25–28 April 2000
Bangkok, Thailand
1. The “Expert Consultation on Plant Pest Management Curriculum Development for University and Related Institute Education in Asia-Pacific” was held at the FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (RAP), Bangkok, Thailand, from 25 to 28 April 2000. Thirteen experts from seven countries, namely China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines and Thailand participated in the Consultation. Experts from CABI South East Asia Regional Centre (Malaysia), FAO Programme for Community IPM in Asia (Indonesia) and Thai Education Foundation (Thailand) also participated in the Consultation. The List of Participants is as given in Appendix I.
2. Dr. R.B. Singh, Assistant Director-General and FAO Regional Representative for Asia and the Pacific (ADG/RR), in his opening statement, welcomed the participants on behalf of the FAO Director General, Dr. Jacques Diouf, and on his own behalf. He then explained that the Asia and Pacific Region, handicapped in the per caput availability of land, water and other resources, besides other limitations, must lay emphasis on increase in production per unit area of existing crop lands instead of horizontal expansion. Noting that there must be greater efficiency and cost effectiveness in the crop production system, he further emphasized that a grain saved is a grain produced.
3. Dr. Singh pointed out that, for this century and millennium, several considerations will assume high importance in regard to designing pest management programmes and curriculum. These would include aspects on biotechnology, transgenics, genetically modified organisms, biosafety, bioregulations, bioagents, biopesticides and quarantine. He was heartened that the national and international programmes in this region had taken note of these developments and are in the process of making necessary adjustments and creating new structures to meet the challenges and opportunities. Like universities in the West, those in Asia and the Pacific are also preparing graduates with interdisciplinary background for pest management. A new concept of Farmers Field School (FFS) has also been created through the various FAO IPM projects. Notwithstanding these initiatives, he recognized that it is still a long way to go in institutionalizing human resource development for plant protection in a comprehensive manner.
4. Dr. Singh suggested that the curriculum for formal or non-formal education in pest management must have elements of inter-disciplinarity, integration, partnership and participatory approaches. It should include aspects on policies, economics, trade, social dimension, biotechnology and informatics for pest management, risk assessment analysis, risk management options, remote sensing and climatology, Decision Support System (DSS), Geographic Information System (GIS), and others. He also urged for a harmonized core curriculum development of plant pest management education at graduate and post-graduate levels in the region. In doing so, various issues need to be considered, such as, national and farmers' needs, availability of competent teachers, the changed concept of practical training (e.g. FFS), need for a regional institution for granting higher degrees in IPM, the mechanism to harmonize the curriculum and training, and others.
5. In conclusion, Dr. Singh wished the Consultation success and gave the assurance that FAO will give due attention to the recommendations of the Consultation.
6. (The full text of the Opening Address is given in Appendix II)
7. Prof. Chong-yao Shen, Regional Plant Protection Officer of FAO RAP, welcomed the participants. He regretted that the arrival of the experts from China has been delayed because of flight problem and proposed a slight adjustment of the Consultation Agenda. He also explained that the objective of the Consultation was to appraise the current situation of plant pest management curriculum (PPMC) in the region and to formulate the necessary follow-up actions for their improvements.
8. Mr. P.K. Saha, Technical Officer (Plant Protection) of FAO RAP, then initiated and called upon the participants to introduce themselves.
9. The Consultation elected Dr. S.N. Puri from India as Chairman and Dr. Somkid Disthaporn from Thailand as Vice-Chairman of the Consultation.
10. The Agenda as adopted by the Consultation is set out in Appendix III.
11. Experts from the following countries presented their country statements: China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines and Thailand.
12. Plant pest management curriculum development at Nanjing Agricultural University of China. [By Chen Li-feng]. The curriculum for undergraduate programme of pest management in Nanjing Agricultural University (NAU) underwent great changes as the science and technologies developed. In the earlier times when the department was just established, there were only a few basic courses and specialized courses for undergraduate programme of Plant Protection (Plant Pest Management). The curriculum in that period was incomplete. Since 1980s, due to more open policy of China, more advanced technologies were imported from western developed countries to serve the modernization of China's agriculture and industry. This resulted in the modification of the curricula in agricultural institutions in China. Students were then required to master more knowledge. Thus, there were more selective courses added to the PPMC in NAU to broaden their range of knowledge, except for the required common basic courses. This improved the previous curriculum substantially. However, there were still certain limitations. Since 1990s, due to the rapid growth of Master and Ph.D. degrees, the undergraduate programme is now no longer the highest level of tertiary education in China, and thus, the primary aim of undergraduate education has changed accordingly. The main ideology guiding the curriculum reform, therefore, is to reduce the ratio of common basic courses, to include key specialized courses, and to emphasize the importance of practical skills. Every undergraduate student in NAU has to obtain 52 credits (894 academic hours) of common basic courses. All students of Plant Production (majoring in Agronomy, Horticulture, Pedology (soil science), Plant Protection, and others) are required to undertake several specialized and basic courses in their respective areas of specialization. The five basic courses for students of Plant Protection are Fundamental Entomology, Agricultural Entomology, Fundamental Plant Pathology, Agricultural Plant Pathology and Plant Protection (using pesticides). In addition, there are other selective courses that students can choose from, depending on their interests. Practical work is particularly important for students in Plant Protection. Students are trained to acquire and master various plant protection skills through different kinds of practical work.
13. Besides NAU, there are many other agricultural institutions in southern China. Examples include Anhui Agricultural University, Huanan Agricultural University, Agricultural Colleges of Yangzhou University, Jiangxi University and Zhejiang University. The curricula for undergraduate programme of Pest Management (Plant Protection) in these institutions are generally similar. There are however slight modifications due to geographic differences. The main difference is usually in the selective courses. In general, only a few selective courses are offered by most of these institutions, while only very few institutions offer a great range of choices. In terms of practical training, those offered by most agricultural universities or colleges are somewhat similar, although they may vary in duration.
14. NAU, as a training institution in agricultural sciences, is proud of its past years of achievements. However, it recognizes the need to look towards the future to provide China with the necessary agricultural manpower that are qualified, have the needed skills, and also have mastered more advanced technologies to meet the needs of China's economic development.
15. Plant pest management curriculum development at China Agricultural University. [By Wang Hui-ming]. China Agricultural University (CAU) is a national university where plant protection constitutes one of the main traditional disciplines. Normally, the undergraduate students in Plant Protection require four years to complete a Bachelor degree. The history of plant protection can be traced back to 1949 when Beijing Agricultural University (BAU) was founded. In 1995, the Beijing Agricultural Engineering University and BAU were merged to form CAU.
16. The history of undergraduate education in the field of plant protection can be divided into four stages. The first was from 1949–1965 when students were mostly enrolled in Plant Pathology or Entomology. Even though they may sometimes register in Plant Protection at the beginning, they would eventually choose certain specialization relating to Pathology/Entomology before graduation. The curriculum then was designed according to the demands for teaching and research. The second stage was from 1966– 1976. This was a time when education did not play the role it should do. The third stage was from 1977–1999. During this time, especially in the earlier period, the focus was to develop qualified professionals for the universities and research institutions because of shortage in plant protection professionals. Curricula were planned on the basis to produce research-type professionals. By 1980, there were numerous plant protection professionals produced. In parallel, there were also many narrow fields of specialization introduced, particularly in the 1990s. Unfortunately, such an educational system was unable to meet the needs of the society and the curriculum was subsequently revised. Nowadays, the objectives of undergraduate education in plant protection include providing the students with a sound knowledge in Integrated Pest Management (IPM) and a broad-based education in the subjects Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Foreign Language, Computer, Liberal Arts, Science, Engineering, Economics and Administration. The undergraduates enroll to become specialists in Plant Protection instead of Plant Pathology or Entomology. Students may also freely take the elective courses.
17. Currently, undergraduate students are expected to undertake a broad-based education in plant protection. Perhaps in the future, even Master or Doctorate degree students will likewise need to be broad-based (studying Plant Protection) instead of continuing with the narrower fields of Plant Pathology or Entomology. By then, undergraduate students may be required to do Plant Production instead.
18. Plant Pest Management Curriculum in India. [By S.N. Puri]. India will need 240 million metric tonnes of food grains to feed the growing population by the year 2006. On average, pests cause 15 to 20 percent losses, which amounted to more than Rs. 290,000 million annually. In early attempts to develop the required human resource for research, extension and education, the two disciplines, namely Entomology and Plant Pathology, were major players. More than 30 State Agriculture Universities (SAUs) and one Central Agriculture University (CAU) alongside 20 general universities (through 48 colleges) offered instructions in plant protection. The agricultural education passed through different phases, starting from the conventional British University System to trimester followed by the semester system.
19. The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has been instrumental in curricula changes for different undergraduate and post-graduate programmes in India. The First Dean's Committee developed detailed guidelines for undergraduate and post-graduate education in 1965. This was progressed further by the Second Dean's Committee in 1981. The recent report by the Third Dean's Committee recommended new curricula for the undergraduate courses. The aim is to produce agricultural graduates with a strong background in modern science, biology of pests, principles and techniques of IPM and macro/micro-economics pertaining to pest management, so as to assure greater sustainability in agricultural production and to protect the environment.
20. Graduates may go for post-graduate education and take a career in research and teaching. Some may work with the State Department of Agriculture while others do consultancies and agribusiness relating to plant protection. Bearing these in mind, the ICAR Education Division has recommended a new course structure for B.Sc. (Ag.) and B.Sc. (Hort.) degrees. It included the important feature of Rural Agricultural Work Experience (RAWE) which allows students the opportunity to do practical training in farmers' fields, thereby gaining real life experience in pest management. The course curricula for post-graduate levels are also currently under review.
21. Regular in-service training for extension personnel and researchers is considered an important requirement. Currently, the crop research institutes of ICAR provide such training in commodity-based IPM. In addition, the National Centre for Integrated Pest-Management (ICAR) provides in-services orientation programme to university teachers and extension personnel. For the latter in particular, the National Plant Protection Training Institute (NPPTI) is playing a key role in providing the needed in-service training within the country.
22. For post-graduate courses, many frontier areas in plant protection science will need to be included. Examples include up-to-date surveillance and forecasting techniques of pests, pest risk analysis (PRA), recent quarantine laws, pest management in protected horticulture, mass production of biopesticides and other bioagents, and harnessing bioinformatics (including the practical handling of relevant software).
23. Plant pest management curriculum in India. [By Prabhakar S. Chandurkar]. Indian agriculture has made significant progress in increasing crop production and in acquiring a fair degree of resilience over the last five decades. Agricultural universities in India have been in existence for the last 40 years starting with the establishment of the first agricultural university at Pant Nagar in 1960 on Land Grant Pattern of the United States of America. Today, India has one of the largest networking of agricultural education system in the world in providing educational facilities to about 10,000 students in 11 undergraduate programmes of agriculture and allied sciences and to about 6,000 students in post-graduate programmes in more than 60 disciplines. Human resource development is widely regarded as the most important factor to quickly popularize the latest technological development in plant protection among the farmers. Curriculum development plays an important role in imparting knowledge and skills required for human resource development in any discipline. High quality undergraduate education is critical as Bachelor degree holders constitute the bulk of recruits for public and private sectors that are concerned with agriculture. The Dean's Committees constituted by ICAR have, from time to time, recommended model curriculum to bring uniformity in the curricula of agricultural universities. Most of these universities have accepted and implemented many of the recommendations. For a four-year B.Sc. (Ag.) programme, the total number of required credits vary from 145 to 181 credits. Of these, 17–31 credits are allotted to Plant Protection courses, with 8–13 credits for Entomology, 8–12 credits for Plant Pathology (including Nematology) and 2–5 credits for courses on Agricultural Chemicals/Pollutants/Environmental Science and Agroecology. In addition, 25 percent of the workload in RAWE Programme (out of 21 credits) is earmarked for Plant Protection.
24. In the past, the postgraduate education in universities did not receive much attention. Most universities offered post-graduate degrees in Entomology and Plant Pathology but not in Plant Protection. However, in more recent years, Plant Protection became more important due to the fast-changing national and international agricultural scenario. These include global concern about environmental/health effects of pesticides, problems of international trade and related issues, and the need for sound ecological and IPM approach. In particular, the reorientation of formal education and extension methods becomes crucial as IPM in agriculture assumes prime significance.
25. In most universities, no IPM course is offered. Thus, a new course for this has been suggested for the undergraduate level. At the higher post-graduate level, a more comprehensive IPM course involving wide-ranging IPM topics has been proposed. In general, the plant protection extension functionaries are graduates with inadequate practical experience. They therefore need appropriate training to upgrade their professional competence. Presently, NPPTI (Hyderabad) and the Directorate of Plant Protection are playing a leading role in generating trained manpower in IPM of rice, cotton, vegetables, and some oilseed and pulse crops. These involve season-long Training-of-Trainers (ToT) programmes and other long and short duration training programmes at national level. The curriculum, aimed at developing IPM skills, has been developed over the years under the FFS programmes. It is augmented with panel discussions, special topics and group dynamics and is updated constantly.
26. In India, IPM is especially compatible with the socio-economic and cultural milieu of the farming communities. Since the Government of India and the State Governments are providing increasing support in IPM among farmers, it is envisaged that there will be a greater need for the introduction of IPM courses in the curricula of universities/institutes. This is essential to ensure the sustainable growth of agriculture in the 21st century where excellence in competence and performance of plant protection functionaries are critical for the nation to face a challenging time.
27. Pest management courses in Indonesian universities and colleges. [By Edhi Martono]. The development of IPM courses in Indonesian universities and colleges started at the same time as the implementation of IPM programme on rice following the outbreaks of brown planthopper in the late1970s. IPM courses became obligatory for agricultural universities and colleges because the unilateral approach of pest control using synthetic chemical pesticides has failed. Moreover, many negative side effects were also experienced, such as, the development of pest resistance, frequent resurgence of pests, decimation of non-target and beneficial species, problems with pesticide residues and that of human health hazards. IPM therefore was regarded as the best option to deal with the problem of plant pests and diseases. It was also adopted to ensure a more sustainable and environmentally friendly practice in agriculture.
28. Today, after a 20-year history of IPM in Indonesia, the courses had developed into the primary vehicle for disseminating IPM principles and technologies. The close relationship between the courses and field practices provides the students with both theoretical knowledge and practical skills. Courses on IPM have become popular today because they are able to provide the answers to many current problems in agriculture. The multidisciplinary and holistic approach of IPM programme makes the courses particularly attractive, not only to students of Plant Pest and Disease, but also to those of Agronomy and Agricultural Economics.
29. It is expected that IPM courses will become even more important in the future. This is because more people have become environmentally conscious due to opening of the Indonesian agriculture market to the global societies and also because the existing pesticide-based agriculture is less efficient. IPM, which is economically feasible, ecologically sound, and socially acceptable, is likely to form the core of agriculture in the years to come.
30. Plant pest management curriculum development in Indonesia. [By Saesilo Wibowo]. Since the development of synthetic organic pesticides in the 1940s, the use of chemical insecticides has increased very extensively in Indonesia with enormous overuse. This has resulted in many undesirable problems and entomologists have been making great efforts to overcome them through the development and application of IPM.
31. In late 1985, most of the rice crops in Java suffered serious attack by the brown planthopper. To help fight the problem, the Government passed the Presidential Decree No.3-1986 that banned the use of 57 registered brands of broad-spectrum insecticides on rice. This policy was strengthened with Law No. 12-1992 on Plant Culture System. The latter established IPM as a key plant protection strategy and that this will be the responsibility of the community and the Government.
32. Both Phase I and II of the National IPM Programme consisted of many training activities to make participants (field pest observers, field extension workers, others) to become skilled and experts in IPM. Curriculum was developed for each kind of training in order to achieve the respective goals. Over time, various aspects of the IPM training curriculum were improved and integrated with that of the National Agriculture University, so that the trainees have the opportunity to obtain a Diploma 1 (D-1) Programme in IPM.
33. In 1993, the National IPM Programme expanded further the activities in IPM training for graduates from the Agriculture Extension Academy (AEA). The IPM curriculum was improved and adopted by Bogor AEA and many other AEAs in 1997. Graduates from AEAs (in agricultural extension field) were expected to become experts in both the contents and the processes. Achieving this means they must master the capability of growing a healthy crop.
34. Besides rice, there is urgent need to also develop suitable IPM training curricula for other crops, such as, leave vegetables, fruit vegetables, tuber vegetables, annual fruits, ornamental plants, medicinal plants and post harvest handling. Other general and related aspects (e.g. management) must also be included.
35. Currently, the political climate and economic downturn in Indonesia have posed serious constraints to IPM development and implementation in the country. Nevertheless, effort will be made to continuously upgrade the IPM curricula, especially in Bogor AEA. It is expected that these curricula will differ when each region in the country undertakes such tasks, since the curricula will be largely governed by the availability of quality human resources, the nature of the problems encountered by the respective region and the available budget.
36. Plant pest management curriculum development in Malaysia. [By Yazid Mohd Isa]. The Department of Agriculture (DOA), Malaysia has been entrusted to play an important role in the overall pest management of various crops other than the two major plantation crops, rubber and oil palm. Pest management training is also a major function of the DOA, being organized largely through its in-house training facilities. Over time, because of the need for improvements, the PPMC had also gone through some major changes in delivery and teaching methodology. It has progressed 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 IPM. 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.
37. In Malaysia, the universities are responsible in providing formal training at degree, diploma and certificate levels. However, 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.
38. Plant pest management curriculum development in Pakistan. [By M.D. Mohsin]. The Punjab Agricultural College and Research Institute Lyallpur (now Faisalabad) was established in 1906. The post of one Assistant Professor of Entomology was created in 1908 to impart education in plant protection. Over the years there has been increase in the number of agricultural research and teaching institutions. Now, Pakistan has four agricultural universities, six agricultural colleges, one forestry college and two forestry research institutes in the country. The universities, colleges, departments and institutes offer degree and certificate courses and the curricula are approved through consultation. New courses have been introduced and old ones improved so as to meet the growing demand.
39. Pests are known to have caused immense damage to crops. To deal with them, agriculture colleges and field assistants training schools were set up to train young men in the subjects of agriculture with plant protection as an integral part. In 1917, a four-year B.Sc. degree course with entomology as a minor subject was started. In 1934, entomology was upgraded as a major subject with a view to combat pest problems of major crops. In 1961, the pest management course was set up and M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees were started. The curricula were revised with encouragement given to in-depth research. Both theory and practical instructions were strengthened. The Department of Plant Protection provided training in plant quarantine, locust survey and pest control to its staff and others. These were short duration courses and the curricula consisted of educational materials in pest biology and control.
40. The earlier curricula in the agriculture colleges and field assistants training institutes consisted of theory and practical of very simple or basic pest control practices. Later, new management practices were introduced and the curricula had advanced courses in Pest Biology, Crop Behavior, Host-Pest Interaction, and New Control Strategies and Materials. More recently, the curricula included Innovations, Environmental Safety, Cost: Benefit Ratio, Pest Control Programmes, and others. Courses in Molecular Biology, Virology, Agrometeorology, Pesticide Chemistry, Biotechnology, etc. were also offered. IPM was introduced and became an important course. In addition, field practical on various aspects formed a significant part of the curricula. All these have helped to improve the capability of agricultural workers in identifying pests, pathogens and weeds, and in developing effective control options.
41. Apart from the public sector, a number of private pesticide companies and one NGO presently conduct training for their staff and the farmers. The courses are usually crop-specific and comprised of pest identification, pest scouting, and pesticides use and safety measures.
42. Nowadays, the Government of Pakistan considers IPM to be an essential component of the agriculture production system. IPM has been approved as a national theme and included in the Agricultural Policy (1991) with the aim to reduce reliance on chemical pesticides. This has stimulated many agriculture institutes to develop IPM-related curricula for various training levels and of different specializations. In particular, many short training courses have been conducted by the Provincial Agriculture Departments, Cotton Research Institutes, Rice Research Institutes and Pakistan Agricultural Research Council for their workers, who in turn, provided training to the farmers. Workshops on IPM in rice, cotton, sugarcane and fruits for researchers, extension workers and progressive farmers were also held from time to time. The curricula have been prepared in close collaboration with world bodies like FAO, World Bank and Winrock International. They are crop-specific and are updated regularly.
43. In Pakistan, plant pest management curriculum development (PPMCD) is dynamic with continuous improvements made to incorporate new aspects through regular interactions with global organizations, research centres and universities. However, there are presently a number of deficiencies in the curriculum. These are being addressed through periodic upgrading.
44. Plant pest management curriculum development in the Philippines. [By Wilma R. Cuaterno]. Following the introduction of agro-pesticides after World War II, their increasing use and associated problems created deep concern and raised a number of issues concerning ecological balance and human health. For example, pesticide misuse resulted in widespread loss of beneficial and non-target species and caused the buildup of pesticide resistance and pest resurgence that led to major pest outbreaks in rice and vegetables.
45. In 1952, the national rat control drive unknowingly started IPM in the Philippines using control strategies with a wide range of methods, namely physical, cultural, biological, chemical and legislative control. However, it was only in 1978 that the Philippine Department of Agriculture (DA), through the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI), formally introduced IPM to educate the Filipino farmers on the concept and practice of need-based insecticide spraying. Subsequently, recognizing that IPM is information-based and decision-intensive, the IPM programme departed radically from the dominant crop protection approach of calendar spraying. In May 1986, through a presidential pronouncement by then President Corazon C. Aquino, the Philippines adopted IPM as the core of crop protection policy in agriculture. Since then, IPM has evolved into a more dynamic, practical and farmer-driven activity.
46. The IPM training approaches prior to late 1980s were essentially pedagogical in nature. They followed the concept of pedagogy, or the art and science of teaching children, using the traditional lecture or didactic approach to learning. During this period, DA depended on the academicians for the development, and to some extent, implementation of crop protection programme of the government. In particular, it relied heavily on the National Crop Protection Center (NCPC) of the University of the Philippines at Los Baños (UPLB). As such, the crop protection curriculum was largely associated with pedagogical learning methods that the academicians were more familiar with.
47. Since 1986 when IPM was proclaimed the core crop protection policy, the Crop Protection Division (BPI) assumed important role in enhancing local implementation of applied research, training and extension programmes in crop protection. Even though the training approach then was less participatory and experiential, many field-based activities conducted were already using hands-on and demonstration methods, many of which approximated the current discovery-based FFS approach.
48. In 1991, the andragogic approach to IPM extension education was launched in Antique Province through the Antique Integrated Area Development Program (AIADP) with assistance from the FAO Intercountry Programme for Integrated Pest Control in Rice in South and Southeast Asia (FAO-IPC Rice). The approach, patterned after that of the Indonesian National IPM Programme, is discovery-based, experiential and participatory in nature.
49. On 3 May 1993, former President Fidel V. Ramos launched a revitalised National IPM Programme through Memorandum Order No. 126. Dubbed as Kasagaanna ng Sakaban At Kalikasan or KASAKALIKASAN, it is the Philippine government's commitment to Agenda 21 of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in promoting sustainable agriculture and rural development. The National IPM Programme aims to make IPM the standard approach to crop husbandry and pest management in major areas of rice, corn and vegetables in the Philippines.
50. KASAKALIKASAN trains farmers and empowers them to become experts in their own fields by developing their ability in making critical and informed decisions, rendering crop production systems more productive, profitable and sustainable. The training approach is essentially andragogic. Hence, it is experiential, discovery-based, group-oriented, involves critical thinking, and adopts a horizontal relationship among learners and trainers.
51. Andragogy, as a learning strategy, uses a lot of non-formal education (NFE) methods and approaches. NFE methods and approaches, as knowledge management strategies, bring about sharing of knowledge and the creation of new knowledge, and in the process empower the participants. Activities focus on allowing participants to observe, discuss, interact, brainstorm, as well as perform analysis, make decisions and solve problems. Thus, the IPM training approaches or methodologies used in the late 1990s to the present are andragogical in nature. These approaches and methodologies approximate the concept of andragogy, which means the art and science of helping adults learn.
52. Current curriculum development of IPM training in the Philippines emphasizes the use of NFE through FFS as an extension approach and as a strategy for local capacity and capability building. Today, KASAKALIKASAN takes a new flight as the National IPM Programme expands its reach, sharing its experiences to other field of endeavour.
Likewise, the Philippines takes the lead in establishing the ASEAN IPM Knowledge Network as its initiative for regional cooperation in sustainable development. The electronic, Internet-like, and wide-area network seeks to help ASEAN countries improve the effectiveness of IPM implementation by making knowledge sharing easy among national IPM programmes.
53. Plant pest management curriculum development in Thailand. [By Patcharee Meenakanit]. The concept of IPM in Thailand has been established prior to 1975, mainly to cope with pest problems, intensive use of pesticide and environmental concerns. Manuals for rice, vegetables, soybean, mung bean and cotton have been produced to train extension workers in IPM concepts, pests and their natural enemies, economic threshold analysis and control measures. In 1992, a curriculum for season-long training in rice was first drafted, but it was not widely used in the extension system. In 1994, the Integrated Pest Management in Selected Fruit Trees Project introduced “The IPM Extension Programme” and produced the curricula for durian and mango. These were for extension workers to use as guides in their work with fruit growers. However, in 1998 a more recent approach to IPM in rice and vegetables was developed under the Royal Initiative. It introduced a training process focusing on human resource development and using the experiential learning and empowerment approach. The curricula for trainers and for farmers are being developed for use in ToT courses and in FFS.
54. Pest Management Curriculum at Kasetsart University. [By Surachaet Jamornmarn]. Kasetsart University (KU) is a state university among the present 24 public and 43 private universities and institutions in Thailand. It has established seven campuses that are distributed to cover the main regions of the country. The teaching curricula include many subject areas covering agriculture, science, arts, social science, humanity, education, engineering, and architecture. Recently, the university has also included medicine and health science.
55. The Faculty of Agriculture consists of nine departments, i.e. Agricultural Extension and Communications, Agronomy, Animal Science, Entomology, Farm Machines, Home Economics, Horticulture, Plant Pathology, and Soil Science. Through these departments, the Faculty of Agriculture offers various undergraduate and post-graduate study programmes. For the undergraduate programme, seven kinds of degree courses (each of four years) are being offered. Pest Management is one of these. It is an inter-departmental programme leading to a Bachelor of Science in Pest Management.
56. The Pest Management programme is designed for students with a career interest in science and technology in pest management. Students in this programme conduct inter-disciplinary studies with insects, plant diseases, weeds and other pests, with an emphasis on management systems that are ecologically and economically sound, as well as, sustainable.
57. The pest management curriculum at KU was first established in 1986. Since then, it has been evaluated a number of times. The following are the main problems encountered. Firstly, the students lack agriculture practical training in their own specific fields. Next, they encounter problem in writing scientific papers. The third concerns the issue of foreign language training. Fourthly, students have limited choice in choosing the subjects they want, largely because the courses offered seem to be of little interest to the students.
58. The new four-year curriculum for Pest Management was established in 1998. It requires a total of 139 credit hour. This curriculum consists of three parts. The first part is concerned with general education of 31 credits (Science and Mathematics 7 credits, Language 12 credits, Social Science and Humanity 10 credits, and Physical Education 2 credits). The second part involves specific requirements of 102 credits (scientific group 31 credits, agricultural group 25 credits, specific course 37 credits, and specific elective of 4 options with 9 credits). The last part concerns free electives amounting to 6 credits.
59. PPMC must be sufficiently sound in order to produce quality human resource necessary for proper implementation of pest management activities. Its contents are determined by a number of considerations, such as, overall/specific objectives of the programmes, types/roles of course participants, level of expertise required, current developments and related issues in pest activities, duration of the course, and other influencing factors.
60. The PPMC for first degree university level education should aim at providing a general and basic plant pest management education with expertise to handle a general range of roles that can fit in with most plant protection functions, such as, extension, research, the agricultural industry, etc. However, at the higher degree levels, there will be need for more in-depth and specialized training and also a wider coverage of subjects.
61. The following are basic/core subjects that the curriculum should incorporate; Agricultural Zoology, General Botany, Agriculture Economics, Entomology, Plant Pathology, Weed Science, Vertebrate Pests, and General Crop Production/Agronomy. Other more specialized subjects of relevance to pest management which should also be included are Principles of Ecology, Ecological Methods, Diagnostic Procedures and Pest Identification, Plant Breeding and Genetics, Chemical Pesticides and Related Issues, Methods of Pest Control, Plant Quarantine, Principles/Methods of Pest Surveillance and Forecasting, IPM, Major Crop Ecosystems and the Key Pests, Biotechnology, Extension Methodology, Statistical Methods and Analysis, and Computer Applications and Bioinformatics. Among these, it is crucial that IPM be given a comprehensive treatment since it is now the central theme in plant pest management and has good prospect to overcome many of the undesirable concerns of pesticides. In particular, the newer approach involving farmer participatory training and research (as practised in FFS) should receive key consideration. In addition to the above subject areas, there should also be provision to cover the current and more general issues that can affect plant pest management, such as, agreements and regulations of globalization and free trade, Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD), and others.
62. Field work and practical training (20–30%) must form an important part of the PPMC to supplement the lectures and laboratory activities because plant pest management deals substantially with field problems. This is to ensure that course participants do not remain confined to the theoretical and academic domain but will be equipped with a rounded education and a practical outlook to handle the realities of pest problems normally encountered by growers.
63. Each course participant should also be required to undertake a major project assignment resulting in a dissertation. This will provide the trainee to apply independently his/her knowledge to deal with a current problem and to demonstrate his/her scientific capability and resourcefulness in finding the best means to meet the challenges of the project assignment within a time period. The dissertation would permit the assessment of the work output, including the trainee's coherence of thoughts in the assigned subject, analytical capability and presentation skills.
64. Presently, great variations exist in the pest management curricula in the Asia-Pacific region. However, there are many advantages in working towards a standard and a relatively uniform curriculum. Although the tasks in doing so may not be easy, this Consultation has stimulated the initiative to begin the harmonization. It is suggested that Bachelor degree curricula for pest management in the different countries be examined to first select the common areas, and thereafter, incorporate other new aspects that are also considered as common to all. Specific aspects peculiar for a particular country can then be added to this core curriculum to form the overall (combined) curriculum to be used in the country concerned.
65. Once developed, a PPMC is not cast-bound and will need to be improved or revised to fit in with any future developments or other changes. Future regional consultations may be needed for this and to maintain a harmonized PPMC.
[This was also previously presented at the workshop on “Deepening the Basis of Rural Resource Management”, February 2000, ISNAR, The Hague, Netherlands].
66. The failure of the chemical control paradigm to resolve issues related to resistance, resurgence, secondary pest outbreaks and hazards to health and the environment, resulted in a shift to an IPM paradigm. A further shift occurred at the implementation level.
67. A programme to help farmers understand science was launched in 1989. To achieve this, 30 field trainers learned to facilitate learning at a residential season-long Farmer Training Facility (FTF). FTF graduates appreciated that science has to be learned and not told by IPM practitioners.
68. Twenty to thirty farmers meet for weekly sessions of about 6 hours each during a rice season at a FFS. Learning to experiment often results in farmers knowing more about the ecosystem. They use this knowledge to analyze the ecosystem. To meet the challenges of maintaining quality education in science, it is necessary to develop Action Research Facility (ARF) and follow-up farmer studies. This enables farmers, researchers and extension workers to become research partners.
69. Currently, the government in many countries is spending tremendous amount of national budget on retraining their extension workers to be able to implement the IPM training programme for farmers. These efforts are in response to the national policy, attempts to reduce the use of chemical inputs especially pesticides, and to consumer demands to reduce the chemical residues in the produce. In particular for Thailand, a leading exporter of agricultural produce in the region, it is facing a challenge with the international trade agreement to check chemical residues in the produce while the majority of the farmers are relying on chemical inputs in their production process. The adverse impact has already occurred with the cancellation of orders of certain fruits from Thailand to Europe and Japan.
70. In efforts to meet this important challenge, there is an urgent need to reform the educational process for those who are or will be involved in the agricultural field. In particular, graduates who will become part of the extension systems, or working for private sectors, must posses the necessary knowledge and skills to minimize the use of chemical inputs in agricultural production. To do so, they need also to understand especially the plant ecosystems and the pest-natural enemy ecology. Unfortunately, most universities and colleges continue to use the conventional curricula, teaching methodologies and assessment systems that largely promote memorizing of theories and information. Consequently, the students cannot respond in an innovative way to deal with the field problems that they encounter.
71. Efforts to reform the educational programmes have often faced obstacles. Currently, the Thai Education Foundation is working with various educational agencies to institutionalize the field-based IPM courses in a wide range of students. They include primary school students, young and older adults in the NFE programmes, and students in the Agriculture College. It is hoped that this Expert Consultation on PPMCD will help initiate the required changes in the higher educational programmes in the various participating countries so that a new generation of educated young adults will emerge to become effective human resources for each respective country.
72. The Expert Consultation, guided by the information gained from the country and other invited presentations and the ensuing discussions, appraised the status and various developing issues pertaining to PPMCD in the region. The overall summary and highlights are given below.
73. All participating countries have some form of PPMC. However, they are not uniform for several reasons, such as, unequal priorities accorded to different crops and pests in the different countries, different emphasis given to certain technical aspects due to different levels in development of plant protection science, unequal funding support, unavailability of needed resource expertise, and others.
74. Broadly, there exists two distinct kinds of PPMC in the region, i.e. university level and non-university level. The former is broad-based and has the goal to produce graduates to meet a wide range of job market while the latter is specific and a specialized training to empower farmers toward improved crop production. Presently, the latter exists only in a few countries in the region and is undertaken mostly by agriculture extension agencies. Because this approach has proven to be highly successful, there is strong interest to expand such a training programme, both within and outside these countries.
75. Updating and revision of PPMC usually take quite a long time (about seven to more than ten years). This is because the decision to make a change normally depends on large and centralized committees that comprise of senior and very busy officials who can meet only infrequently. Partly because of this, the emerging science and other newer interest areas (e.g. biodiversity, biotechnology, organic agriculture, and others) that have significant impact on plant pest management have not been fully included (or are inadequately addressed), thereby resulting in deficiencies in the existing curriculum.
76. IPM is now the central theme in plant pest management and has good prospect to overcome many concerns of pesticide misuse. Therefore, it is crucial to have a comprehensive treatment of IPM in the curriculum. The topics should cover the basics (e.g. historical development, rationale and principles, management tactics and their strategic application, operational constraints in implementation, others) to the more general issues (e.g. policies, institutional structures, human resource capacity and development, project development and funding, others). Particular attention must be given to the wide-scale implementation and operational strategies, drawing lessons from past failures and recent success cases. The newer approach, using non-formal and self-discovery methodology and involving farmer participatory training and research, should receive key consideration.
77. Because plant pest management deals substantially with field problems, practical work in the field should receive importance and adequate attention. Basically, the formal lectures and laboratory experimental studies will help to build a general knowledge and to provide the specific technical skills needed as backup tools for field decisions and operation. Practical work in the field (20–30%) must supplement these to ensure graduates have a practical outlook. The practical field work will enable trainees to experience the realities of pest problems normally faced by growers and will help develop the right kind of graduate with a proper balance of education around plant pest management. It is recognized that no amount of book learning/lectures can replace the benefits from direct and personal learning through self-discovery in hands-on activities in the field. This has been amply demonstrated in many farmer participatory IPM programmes in which there is incorporated a high level of practical field activities.
78. In recent years, there are a number of major developments, both agriculture-related and otherwise. Examples include biotechnology, bioinformatics, and others. For instance, the information age has made available easier and quicker access of plant pest management information through huge and interactive databases captured in compact discs, such as the CABPESTCD, Global Crop Protection Compendium, Arthropod Name Index, AGRIS and others. In addition, various kinds of information relating to plant pest management are now also readily obtainable through the global Internet facilities. Awareness of such facilities and the ability to access them are crucial. All these are known to have significant impact on plant pest management programmes. However, they are currently either lacking or are inadequately addressed in the present PPMC. Hence, there is a need to incorporate or strengthen these aspects in the existing PPMC. Other new developments that need to be also included are subjects on biotechnology, biodiversity and organic agriculture. In addition, there are also issues needing inclusions, particularly those that have significant implications to plant pest management. Examples include those relating to globalization and trade agreements, such as, the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA). Furthermore, the action plans of UNCED Agenda 21 and CBD, and the import regulations under the FAO Code of Conduct for the Import and Release of Exotic Biological Control Agents, are also important areas that cannot be excluded.
79. The IPM curricula in university and non-university level education have developed independently because of differing broad institutional functions and goals. However, the ultimate target objective is similar, aiming at helping growers to manage pests effectively through IPM. Yet these two groups of institutions generally are insufficiently aware of each other activities. There is urgent need to redress this and also to promote good collaboration so that these institutions can operate more efficiently to achieve the common IPM objective. Among others, an important consideration is to make the university IPM curriculum more field-oriented, participatory and applied in nature, while that of IPM implementing agencies having stronger technical contents. A mechanism to achieve this is through direct exposure of the personnel concerned to relevant activities that will help upgrade the needed skills. Several possibilities to achieve this were discussed and agreed to. These include:
80. Many universities in the Asia-Pacific region offer instructions in plant pest management. However, great variation exists in the course curricula being followed in the different countries. There is need to harmonize the course curricula to better facilitate exchange of students (and also experts) among the countries. To do so, a standard and basic structure of the core curriculum (including some optional courses) for plant pest management must first be developed. The universities in the region could then use this output as a guide to develop their respective course curricula, adding on whatever other optional courses according to specific local needs. Over time, it is expected that this process will help steer towards developing a harmonized course curriculum in plant pest management for the region. To initiate this process, participants at the Consultation formed two Work Groups (A and B) to prepare the basic framework of the pest management curricula, one for university level (Group A) and other for farm level IPM implementation (Group B). The outputs are given in Appendix IV and Appendix V, respectively. It should be pointed out that these curricula framework serve merely as a guide only and do not contain the details that are normally required in curricula contents.
81. To develop the detailed curricula for both university and non-university level education that can be acceptable to all concerned, it was agreed that more time would be required to gather additional inputs and to further consult with other plant pest management specialists in IPM implementing agencies and the universities. This would require a specific working group to undertake the task. Although the group would need to proceed initially with developing the PPMC for the undergraduate level in universities, it should subsequently also formulate the course curricula for post-graduate degrees at both the Master and Ph.D. levels. This is necessary because many pest management experts are likely to acquire post-graduate training in the future, although few of those completing the Bachelor degree presently have proceeded further to do the post-graduate programmes in plant pest management. For the post-graduate curricula, a deeper treatment of the topics would be needed besides the inclusions of new frontier areas, such as, genetically modified organisms, molecular techniques, PRA, biodiversity, biosafety, and others.
82. Since PPMC must be responsive to the ever-changing needs of farmers and the general agriculture industry, a regular review and monitoring of the PPMCD was considered desirable. In this regard, follow-up Consultations may be held to meet such a requirement as and when considered necessary.
83. The Consultation noted that almost all countries in the Asia-Pacific region have universities and/or related institutes of higher learning with PPMC. It also noted that many of the curricula are dissimilar and that these dissimilarities are due in part to unequal priorities accorded to different crop and pest problems, different emphasis given to different technical aspects of plant protection science, unequal allocations of funding support, and different levels of resource capability. The Consultation, convinced that a uniform curriculum will help produce graduates who can take equal advantage of the advances made in plant pest management in the region, therefore recommends that ways and means be developed to reduce such differences in the present PPMC. It also recommends that improvement be made to the teaching methodology of plant pest management at the university level so that graduates can become better equipped to implement IPM effectively at the farm level and that large-scale IPM implementation can be successfully achieved in the countries of the region.
84. In the above context, the Consultation encourages forming a separate working group to discuss in greater depth the issues raised during the Consultation. This working group should include members from the academics as well as field implementers with a view to enhance collaboration between teachers and field workers. Such collaboration would ensure effective feedback from the field to support the development of a more practical PPMC. The Consultation therefore recommends the formation of the “Asia-Pacific Working Group on Plant Pest Management Curriculum Development” with the structure and responsibilities as outlined in Appendix VI. This Working Group will need to also work between Consultations should more of the latter be considered desirable subsequently.
85. The Consultation noted that university faculty development should be an important item in the FAO IPM activities, especially for IPM trainers. This may take the form of regular refresher training that should be organized with a view to upgrade skills and knowledge of faculty members. Such refresher training should be carried out in close cooperation with field trainers who have enormous practical field experience and who have made significant advances in the implementation of IPM, e.g. those who have been involved with IPM of rice and vegetables.
86. The Consultation also noted that there is a need for university faculty members to interact with other resource persons (especially in-country expertise) from all sectors of IPM stakeholders (including agribusiness, others). These resource persons should be encouraged to share their knowledge with faculty members who are involved in plant pest management teaching to provide a more holistic view of the subject.
87. In addition, the Consultation calls for the strengthening of a two-way flow (including collaboration) between universities/research institutes and the farming community. The Consultation recognized that there is often a breakdown between research/teaching and field implementation of plant pest management. To minimize this, the Consultation calls for strengthening of the linkages between universities/research institutes and the implementing agencies.
88. The Consultation noted that the above process of strengthening linkages between the field and classrooms will help produce well-rounded students imbued with facilitating/learning/communicating skills capable and confident in working with farmers.
89. The Consultation appreciated that farmers often have field experiences based on traditional practices. Therefore, PPMC should recognize their potential contributions and should encourage the scientific evaluation of their practices, as part of a research programme to better understand farmers and their pest management practices.
90. The Consultation agreed that universities should be encouraged to carry out specialized studies in any field of plant pest management and become centres of excellence in the selected fields of studies. The Consultation further agreed that such effort will help strengthen both the curriculum development and networking among universities.
91. The Consultation noted that many PPMC have not taken note of emerging issues. Hence, the Consultation recommends that there be constant review of existing PPMC with a view to provide timely upgrades. This is of particular concern as there are rapid advances in IPM in the region, and hence, the Consultation calls for regular monitoring of the PPMC in the universities.
92. The Consultation is concerned that revised PPMC often takes a long time to be implemented. Therefore, the Consultation calls for efforts to speed up the adoption of any revised curriculum to take advantage of the rapid development in certain topics or fields of studies (e.g. biotechnology, bioinformatics, biodiversity, others).
93. To encourage co-operation and collaboration between universities in the region, the Consultation urges universities and related institutions with PPMC to place these on the Internet to ensure a wider circulation.
94. Noting that plant pest management is an important field of plant production and that new advances and developments do emerge from time to time, the Consultation recommends that holding future Consultations be given consideration whenever necessary. Besides other activities, future Consultations could review the progress and achievements of the Working Group, consider possible networking, and develop other follow-up activities.
