NEWS September
2001:
Review team recommends new IPM organisation
An independent review of the FAO Programme for Community IPM in Asia
concluded that "this is an extremely impressive Programme". The
review team made a number of recommendations, including the establishment
of a new organisation which will help to sustain the impact of the
Programme once it comes to an end in 2002.
From
Executive Summary (page 8)
"
The mission found that particularly in Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Nepal
and Vietnam, the Programme had:
a) demonstrated an approach to farmer learning and innovation
which clearly recognises the farmer as decision maker and lays the basis
for continued learning and for wider participation in society;
b) enabled farmers to increase their incomes from rice, while
adopting more environmentally friendly and healthy farming practices (i.e.
drastically reducing or eliminating the use of pesticides, in particular
insecticides);
c) laid a basis for strong national Community IPM programmes,
supported by Government and more importantly, mobilising the joint
initiative of farmers".
The Mid
Term Review was carried out in November 2000 by a team of experts who traveled
to seven of the countries participating in the Community IPM Programme.
The team was led by Dr. Niels Roling, a professor from Wageningen
University and author of a number of books on the subject of agricultural
extension and sustainable development. Other members of the team came from
Philippines, China, Australia and UK, representing major donors and the
FAO evaluation division. The report produced by the team is now being
submitted to participating governments, following approval by FAO
headquarters.
From
Recommendations (page 28)
"The time has come for stakeholders in the Regional ICP to assume responsibility for the future direction of development and a status independent of FAO which will allow advocacy, resource mobilisation, further development of the A team [Asian Trainers Team] and other tasks to be pursued more effectively than is possible in the context of an inter-governmental organisation. The Regional Programme should thus, immediately move to establish an Asian foundation for Community IPM. The Foundation would be established, and could gradually assume, the regional responsibilities of the Asia CIPM Programme during the remainder of Phase IV and
beyond".
The
review team made a number of other recommendations, including: a)
increased documentation of the achievements of the Community IPM
programme, b) the preparation of a pesticide policy project which should
be managed by FAO, and c) the involvement of research and academic
organisations in various studies.
A
summary of the review can be read at the FAO
evaluation section.
Click
here to download the full report of the Mid Term Review. This is a
zipped file which includes the main report and annexes for seven
participating countries and two donors (420 kb, MS Word required).
