Dr. R.B. SINGH
FAO Assistant Director-General and
Regional Representative for Asia and the Pacific
Mr. Chairman
Distinguished Experts and
FAO Colleagues:
On behalf of the Director-General of FAO, Dr. Jacques Diouf, and on my own behalf, I extend to you a warm welcome to this “Expert Consultation on Plant Pest Management Curriculum Development for University and Related Institute Education in Asia-Pacific”. I am delighted that as many as 13 experts from seven Asian countries, one international institute, one NGO and FAO IPM project are participating in this Consultation.
As you know, the Asia-Pacific Region encompassing 36 countries, accounts for 57 percent of the world's population but has access to only 31 percent of the world's arable land. It houses 73 percent of the world's farming households and is the leading producer of several major crops. Hence, events in the Asia and Pacific Region would significantly influence the pace and direction of world agriculture.
As compared to the rest of the world, the Region is handicapped in the per caput availability of land, water and other resources. For instance, per capita land availability in this Region is about 1/6th of that in the rest of the world. There are limitations in bringing new areas under cultivation. In fact, many of them have already serious problems of diminishing soil fertility arising from cultivation of marginal lands. Given the projections of population growth and food demand, and land availability in the future, the Region must produce more and more from ever shrinking land and other agricultural production resources. While most countries in the Region have recorded fairly satisfactory progress in crop production, there are still quite a few countries where the food crop production growth rate is unsatisfactory. In most countries of the Region, the future strategy of crop production must lay greater emphasis on increase in production per unit area of existing crop lands instead of horizontal expansion. This calls for greater efficiency and cost effectiveness in the crop production system.
Agricultural intensification ushered primarily through the Green Revolution in the Region is fraught with the increasing incidence of pests and use of chemical pesticides, and the resultant pollution and environmental degradation. The problem gets further compounded ecologically, economically, socially, and environmentally in tropical and sub-tropical developing countries with high concentration of small farmers.
The estimates of pre- and post-harvest crop losses vary from 20 to 50 percent. We must recognise that a grain saved is a grain produced. The losses are due to several causal organisms - insects, diseases (bacterial, fungal, viral), weeds and vertebrates. Often the damages caused by these veritable agents are not independent of each other. Therefore, the inter-disciplinarity assumes high importance.
In this new century and millennium, several other considerations also assume high importance in designing pest management programmes, including curriculum development. Biotechnology is already playing a leading role in the management of insect pests, diseases and weeds through the development of transgenics. Through the pyramiding of resistance genes by genetic engineering methods, crop varieties possessing multiple resistance to multiple adversities are being developed. This frontline breakthrough has raised new questions of biosafety, quarantine, bioregulations and international sharing of genetically modified organisms. With the increasing emphasis on organic agriculture, there will be greater accent on bioagents, biopesticides, and bioregulators. Individual countries and international systems will be called upon to develop appropriate national and international laws, rules and regulations, standards and codes to manage the pests and related problems. It is thus obvious that besides developing appropriate technology, such as transgenics, there is a need for comprehensive policy development on management of pests. So, I am pleased that FAO through its various IPM regional and national projects has been developing human resources to address the technological as well as the enabling processes.
It is heartening to note that the national and international programmes in the Region had taken note of the above developments and are in process of making necessary adjustments and creating new structures to meet the challenges and opportunities. We in FAO feel that there is a need for creating greater awareness at various levels for development of well-rounded human resources for managing plant pests. They must have full appreciation of not only the science and technology of pest management but also of the several non-technological dimensions. In other words, we need a new breed of human resource for pest management. We have universities in the West, such as the Wageningen University and Research Centre in the Netherlands, preparing graduates with interdisciplinary background for pest management. We also have universities in the developing Asia-Pacific Region doing similar tasks, such as the Plant Protection College of the China Agricultural University, Beijing, and the School of Plant Protection and the National Centre for Integrated Pest Management of the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi. A new concept of Farmer Field School has been created through the various FAO IPM projects.
Notwithstanding the above initiatives, we have a long way to go in institutionalising human resource development for plant protection in a comprehensive manner. The distinguished experts present at this Consultation in their deliberations may wish to keep in mind that a curriculum for formal or non-formal education in pest management must have elements of inter-disciplinarity, integration, partnership and participatory approaches. It must cover topics/courses related to pest management policies, economics, trade, social dimension, biotechnology for pest management, informatics for pest management and Decision Support System (DSS). The curriculum must also include risk assessment analysis and risk management options. An understanding of Geographic Information System (GIS), remote sensing and climatology would be necessary. Comprehensive coverage of regulatory aspects and international codes in relation to biosafety and pest management should be ensured.
It is obvious that curriculum developers cannot work in isolation, but need to take into account the views of a wide range of plant pest management professionals, managers, policy makers, etc. There should be a harmonized core curriculum development of plant pest management education at graduate and post-graduate levels in the Region. Curriculum should be given more of a future orientation within particular agro-environment, cultural, and socio-economic condition. In the design and development of curriculum, developers should take account of and selectively utilise existing systems. However, it should be kept in mind by the curriculum developers that the future of plant pest management would not be entirely new but would evolve out of the present system.
Curriculum developers should be open to the farmers' needs and expressions and see themselves as collaborating with the work of other related national and international agencies, as well as, taking note of community issues, in order to avoid duplication and waste of needful resources. In the course of revision of the curriculum, teachers' guides, manuals, etc., it should bear in mind to prioritise the feedback from field extension output, particularly the experiences of the graduates and post-graduates in the service. Curriculum design and development should take into consideration not only national needs but the need for greater international understanding as well.
I understand that all the experts are here for four days to discuss how to integrate the relevant major subject areas to fit into the curriculum of regular graduate and post-graduate education in plant pest management. So far, it is observed that there is a wider variation of higher education in plant pest management among the countries of the Asia and Pacific Region. In fact, while the Region has very successful integrated plant pest management accomplishment to its credit, much more remains to be done particularly in the area of higher education in this field.
I wish to urge the Consultation to also ponder over the following issues:
Should an interdisciplinary curriculum be prepared only for undergraduates or should similar courses be taught also at M.Sc. and Ph.D levels? The employment ability of such graduates should be examined vis-à-vis the employment opportunities in specialty fields, such as entomology, pathology, virology, microbiology, etc.
The availability of competent teachers to handle the proposed curriculum.
The possibility of creating various modules of pest management training at formal and non-formal levels.
Changed concept of practical training, including Farmer Field School, the curriculum for extension agents.
How many institutions in a country should produce how many graduates under the banner of pest management? Is there a need for creating a regional institution for granting M.Sc. and Ph.D degrees in pest management (integrated)?
The possibility of a regional mechanism to harmonize the curriculum and training needs and to manage it in a dynamic manner.
In conclusion, I would like to extend once again a very cordial welcome to you all. I have no doubt that with the participation of the distinguished experts, this will be a highly productive Consultation. However, as the saying goes “the proof of the pudding is in the eating”, so the efficacy and relevance of plant pest management educational programmes can best be determined in the learning situation. So, the systematic try-out and formative evaluation in actual learning-teaching situations would be of paramount importance. Your careful recommendations will receive due attention of FAO and the Organization will strive to ensure their effective and timely implementation.
I wish you a very successful Consultation.
