Integrated Pest Management (IPM) can be described as a strategy that focuses on long term prevention of pests and the damage they cause. It uses a range of non-chemical based agricultural practices and pesticides are only used as a last resort. This way, the health of farmers and consumers are protected and negative impacts on the environment are reduced.
One of the main limitations of implementing IPM measures in Trinidad and Tobago is lack of knowledge. This applies to knowledge of the different pests that attack the crops and to the beneficial natural enemies present in the field which help regulate of the pest population. Many farmers are wrongly applying pesticides because they aren't aware which insect is damaging their crop, nor do they know how to identify the natural enemies of these pests. In some cases, farmers confuse beneficial insects for pest and simply increase the number of pesticides applications.
The Ministry of Agriculture's Extension Division asked to CABI to implement a workshop for the extension officers and Farmer Field School Facilitators who help support farmers, in order to increase their knowledge and give farmers the tools to identify the most common natural enemies present in the island.
The team at CABI will also be evaluating how the transmission of information from extension workers to the farmers goes during the implementation of the Farmer Field Schools.
This project is in its early stages but the Ministry of Agriculture is planning to implement several workshops during 2009. They are also hoping to organise some further workshops which will study different crops, pests and natural enemies in more detail.