III. Country Statement (Contd.)

PLANT PEST MANAGEMENT CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT IN MALAYSIA

YAZID Mohd Esa

Crop Protection and Plant Quarantine Division,
Department of Agriculture, Telok Chengai,
Kuala Kedah, Malaysia

ABSTRACT

The Department of Agriculture (DOA), Malaysia is entrusted with the overall role to manage pests of various crops other than the two major plantation crops, rubber and oil palm. Pest management training, a major function, is organized mainly through its in-house training facilities. Because of the need for improvements, the curriculum has changed substantially over time; changing from a formal lecture-cum-field demonstration approach that focused on subject matters (with emphasis on pesticides) to the current format which is less formal, dynamic and using the “experiential learning” methodology to learn Integrated Pest Management. Experience has shown that more than 60 percent of the time must be given to field practice and discussion for the training to be effective.

In Malaysia, the universities are responsible in providing formal training at degree, diploma and certificate levels. From time to time, they provide research findings to support the training activities of DOA. Other related research institutions also provide technical inputs for DOA to keep abreast with new technologies.

INTRODUCTION

The Crop Protection and Plant Quarantine Division (CPPQD) under the Department of Agriculture (DOA) of Malaysia plays an important role in the overall management of pests for crops other than rubber and oil palm. Although it is not the function of the DOA to conduct basic research, it has the responsibility in formulating control strategies through adaptive field research programmes or local verification trials before finally recommending them to the extension personnel and the farmers.

Training has always been a major function of the DOA to constantly upgrade the knowledge and skills of the extension staff. The DOA has several means of conducting staff training at the various in-house training facilities. At the federal level, the Human Resource Development Division (HRDD) plans the overall staff training needs of the DOA. The two major Regional Extension Training and Development Centers (RETDCs), one in the North and the other in the South, are given the task to conduct courses.

There are also various Farmer Training Centers (FTC) at the State level, which are under the jurisdiction of the State Department of Agriculture (SDOA). These training facilities are managed by the SDOAs to cater for the training requirements of the extension staff and farmers. For these training centres, the curriculum is quite flexible and is designed to suit the current needs of the States.

Generally, the technical content of the pest management curriculum is prepared by specialists from CPPQD either at headquarters or by specialists assigned to the States. Teaching methods, programme layout and duration, are proposed and prepared by the people from HRDD, RETDC or FTC, depending on where the training is to be carried out.

The objectives of this paper are:

• To present the curriculum development for pest management training in Malaysia.
• To review how training in pest management has been conducted.
• To contribute and share with this Expert Consultation recent ideas, knowledge and experiences that may help towards formulating a more effective Pest Management Training Curriculum.

HISTORY OF PLANT PEST MANAGEMENT CURRICULUM

The development of plant pest management curriculum in Malaysia can be traced back to two main eras -- Pre-IPM era and the IPM era. The former was before 1980 and the latter after 1980.

The Pre-IPM Era (Before 1980)

Pest problems were addressed rather simply during this period. The major focus was to train on how to use pesticides when there was pest attack. The training method and subject contents were quite similar to those taught to the trainers during their formal training in the college. Basically, the curriculum contained mainly the following pest control subjects:

• The major insect pests of a particular crop and their control. This subject covered the bionomics of the important insect pests in great detail. It also included a list of the pesticides associated with their control with a description of their usage.

• The major diseases of a particular crop and their control. Likewise for this subject, the main fungi or bacteria were described and the chemicals for their control listed.

Prior to, or during the 1970s, the emphasis was on scheduled pesticide application. Each and every stage of the crop, time of spraying and the recommended pesticides, were described in great detail. Basically, pesticides were considered important inputs in the agricultural production.

The IPM Era (1980 onwards)

The turning point of pest management came after the following devastating events:

1. outbreak of the Brown Planthoppers (BPH), Nilaparvata lugens, in 1977 in the Tanjung Karang Irrigation Scheme,
2. outbreak of the Whitebacked Planthoppers (WBPH), Sogatella furcifera, in the Muda Areas in 1979, and
3. outbreaks subsequently in other major granary areas of Malaysia.

The DOA, particularly the then Crop Protection Branch, started to re-evaluate the pest management approaches. IPM was given top priority. Rice was the most important crop for introducing IPM by DOA since it was a major national crop and has been well studied both nationally and globally.

The Rice Pest Surveillance and Forecasting System, mooted by the Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (MARDI) and later developed by the Crop Protection Branch in 1980, became a significant platform for pest management training and a major contributing point for the introduction of the IPM concept. At the same time, it became the basis for subsequent development of pest management curriculum. This was the era when many pest management features were introduced, namely:

1. role of natural mortality factors (natural enemies),
2. early warning system in pest management (surveillance system),
3. Economic Threshold Level (ETL) concept,
4. understanding of the agro-ecosystem (rice ecosystem in particular), and
5. emphasis on various agronomic aspects, such as, crop phenology, water management and land preparation, which later became known collectively as Integrated Crop Management.

THE REFORM OF CURRICULUM

In 1990s, the DOA embarked on a major reform in terms of the approach to improve the pest management curriculum. At the DOA federal management level, there was a general consensus that the knowledge and skills of officers need to be upgraded in view of the fast pace in changes relating to pest management. To achieve this, it was decided that the crop-base approach be adopted instead of the project-base approach.

The crop-base approach played a key role in the development of “technology packages” for various crops in the early 1990s. Every aspect of the crop was compiled into the “technology package”. At the same time, Pest Management Specialists in various crops, based largely on their experiences, developed and incorporated the “experiential learning” aspects. This was to enable trainee participants to have the required hands-on experience learning.

The following are some of the technology packages that were developed:

• Fruit crops - mainly durian, mango, dokong and rambutan
• Vegetables - various leafy vegetables and fruit vegetables
• Rice
• Pesticide Application Technology
• Diagnostic courses on fruit crops, vegetables and rice

From time to time the technology packages were upgraded.

CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT IN THE
AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION TRAINING CENTRES OF DOA

Due to the need for a series of technical refresher courses, it was considered necessary that the teaching method be first re-evaluated to suit the demand for a more practical approach. For this purpose, from a study conducted on training effectiveness in the RETDCs, Taharim (1994) suggested that more than 60% of the time spent should be emphasized on practical and field discussion. She also strongly recommended the use of “experiential learning” methodology as the main teaching method. Her recommendation was further strengthened by her findings that 93% of the respondents had increased their knowledge, 87% increased their skills and 88% felt that they were more competent in their work after exposure to the experimental learning method in a pest management course. Anang et. al (1995) also considered this approach important to sustain knowledge, attitude and practice among farmers.

CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT FOR IPM TRAINING

Guided by the above findings, the discovery-based and hands-on exercises were further experimented on with respect to IPM in rice. Examples of some of these exercises included the following:

• Diagnostic exercises in groups to observe symptoms for better decision-making on whether they were caused by nutrient deficiency, damaged by insect pests or diseases, physiological disorders, or due to water stress.
• Hands-on experience to set up cage experiments to demonstrate and observe the role of natural enemies (e.g. Lycosa spider feeding on BPH).
• Experience sweeping with insect nets in rice fields to identify pests and natural enemies to determine their abundance.
• Practical experience in the proper handling of spray equipment, including making their own calibration.

Many IPM-related topics were taught in the Pest Management Course. The following are sample topics for rice based on the needs outlined in the technology package.

• Principles of IPM in rice ecosystem.
• Insect pest and their natural enemies in rice ecosystem.
• Integrated weed control and weed control package for direct-seeded rice.
• The rice pest surveillance and forecasting system.
• No early spray concept in rice ecosystem.
• Incorporation of fish culture and duck rearing in rice ecosystem.
• The role of barn owl as a biological control agent of field rats.

In cases of Fruit Crops and Fruit Vegetables, some of the sample topics included the following:

• Use of mass trapping technique for control of fruit flies in star fruits.
• Early detection and control of patch canker in durian.
• Pruning technique in durian.
• Use of cure-lure and light traps for fruit fly management in fruit vegetables.
• Use of sticky traps for the control of aphid and thrips in vegetables under covered structures.

CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT IN AGRICULTURAL UNIVERSITIES
AND RELATED INSTITUTES

In Malaysia there are three levels of pre-service training, namely, the degree, diploma and certificate level. These are the formal levels of training prior to joining the government or private sector service in agriculture. The requirements for these levels are as given in Table 1.

Table 1. Theory and practical requirements for training at degree, diploma and certificate levels.

Pertaining to agriculture, there are four major universities in Malaysia that offer courses related to Pest Management. These are University Putra Malaysia (UPM), formerly known as University Pertanian Malaysia or the Agricultural University, University of Malaya (UM), University Sains Malaysia (USM) or the Science University of Malaysia, and University Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) or the National University. In the last three universities, basic and applied courses in entomology and plant pathology are offered through their Schools of Biological Sciences. Students may do undergraduate, graduate and post-graduate studies in these fields.

At UPM, the Department of Plant Protection was established within the Faculty of Agriculture with the inception of the university in 1973. Plant protection subjects were first taught in the College of Agriculture, the predecessor of UPM. Since then, the department has grown in stature and now boasts a large number of highly qualified and experienced staff with expertise in many areas of plant protection, including plant pathology and entomology.

The excellent facilities in the department, together with the strong research links to national and international institutions, provide an excellent opportunity for interested researchers and scholars, both local and foreign, to advance further their career in plant pathology and entomology. Indeed, most of the officers working in the DOA, especially those working in the Crop Protection and Plant Quarantine Division, were graduates from this university.

The department has made significant contributions to tropical plant protection and is recognized for its work in the areas of biological control of pests and diseases, pesticide application technology, apiculture and pollination, and pest management. Table 2 lists some of the courses offered by this department.

Table 2. Examples of some courses offered at the Department of Plant Protection in Universiti Putra Malaysia.

1. Entomology (introduction to morphology and physiology of insects).
2. Introduction to Plant Protection (introduction to causal agents, such as fungi, bacteria, viruses, nematodes, etc., including the principles of disease control).
3. Introduction to Plant Pathology (disease triangle, classification of disease pathogens, epidemiology and resistance mechanism, use of fungicides).
4. Plant Protection (introduction to basic understanding on the science of plant protection, weed science and nematodes, including specific topics on morphology, physiology and ecology, introduction to classification of pests, and basic approach to yield loss assessment).
5. Principles of Crop Protection (principles of pest management, bionomics of insect pests and microorganisms (fungi, bacteria, viruses, mycoplasma, nematodes), diagnostic procedures, symptoms and also insect collection)
6. Introduction to Entomology (external and internal morphology, physiology, order, family of insects).
7. Entomology (ecology, population dynamics of insects, distribution and abundance, bionomics and control of the major insect pests with emphasis on rice and plantation crops).
8. Plant Pathology (concepts and principles of plant pathology, disease diagnosis and crop loss assessment, biological diversity and ecology of plant pathogens, applications of biotechnology, such as, tissue culture techniques, genetic engineering, molecular biology and gene cloning in plant pathology).
9. Principles of Pest Control (includes theory and practice of pest management).
10. Pesticide Application Technology (characteristics, formulation and use of pesticides, nozzle selections, spray equipment, calibration of spray equipment, safety aspects).
11. Entomology (emphasis on physiology, behaviour, insect pathology, relationship of insect and disease, population ecology).
12. Apiculture (evolution, biology and ecology, principles of bee management).
13. Plant Pathology (emphasis on plant pathogenic fungi, taxonomy and physiology; host-parasite relationship, epidemiology and control of the major diseases).
14. Nematology (history, morphology, taxonomy, biology, physiology, host-parasite relationship, population dynamics, damage symptoms, classification of tropical and sub-tropical nematodes).

Research institutions, namely, the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB), Malaysian Rubber Board (MRB), MARDI, and other private research bodies have their own training programmes and curricula. However, these are outside the scope of this discussion. Nevertheless, their research findings are easily accessible upon request. In addition, they also offer specialized training to DOA staff from time to time.

PROSPECTS

With the success achieved so far and the overwhelming support currently given by both management and other senior officers who have undergone pest management training under the latest curriculum, there seems to be no turning-back in the “experiential learning” approach. Although the technological advancement appears to be much faster than what the recipients can consume and adopt, it is hoped that the “experiential learning” approach to pest management will be able to speed up significantly the rate of technology adoption. In the not-too-distant future, it is envisaged that we would need to cope with even more complex concept in addressing pest problems. These would include integrated biodiversity management, plant growth enhancement through fertilizer manipulation to increase plant vigour as a tool in pest management, organic farming, and incorporation of other husbandries such as animals and fish, which collectively has been coined as total agriculture concept.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The author would like to extend his deepest appreciation to the Director General of the Department of Agriculture Malaysia, Mr. Ismail Ibrahim, for his encouragement and permission to attend this Expert Consultation. He is also indebted to the Director of Crop Protection and Plant Quarantine Division, Ms. Asna Booty Othman for her guidance and confidence. Last but not least, he is also thankful to his friends and colleagues especially Mr. Mohamad Mohamod of Crop Protection & Plant Qurantine Division, Telok Chengai and training specialist Mr. Rahman Juhari of RETDC, Telok Chengai for helping him prepare this manuscript.

REFERENCES

Anang, Hj.S, Esa, Y.M. and Chang, P.M. (1995). Organizational structures and systems relevant to rice pest management decisions in Peninsular Malaysia. In: H.R. Rapusas, H.R. and Heong, K.L. (ed.). Procs. Workshop Report on Organizational Structures and Systems in Rice Pest Management, 17 – 19 April, 1995; Bangkok, Thailand.

Taharim, N (1994). The effectiveness of diagnostic approach in extension training in Regional Extension and Training Development Centers. Paper presented at: Brainstorming Session for Determining Guidelines on Policy and Focus on the Major Programmes of the DOA for the 7^th Malaysia Plan, 25–26 April, 1994; ILPP Serdang.