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Honey bee publish details |
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written by-Gonzalo rodriguez & Jeffery W Bentley |
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Experimenting Farmers of Honduras: Part II Pest Management |
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Based on our understanding of the creative ability of farmers, we designed a course on natural pest control measures to fill in the gaps in the basic knowledge farmers had. We hoped that the farmers would blend the newly acquired skills with their existing knowledge and evolve new techniques of their own. We were pleasantly surprised when we saw, on follow up, that the farmers had done more experiments and invented far more than we had ever expected them to do.
We found that 98 per cent of the farmers had done some experiments based on what they had learnt from us. The 52 farmers we interviewed had adopted, in all, 179 ideas we had suggested or taught during the course. There were 33 adaptations and they had invented 33 new technologies to control pests, based on blending what they learnt and what they already knew.
We then organized a three-day workshop for the farmers who had carried out the maximum number of experiments to talk about and discuss their experiences. We selected 20 farmers who had experimented the most and invited them to the farmer-experimenter workshop. Only 12 attended. Though we hoped they would talk about their experiences and we would merely be moderators, we were a little apprehensive that some of the farmers might finish narrating their whole experiences in ten minutes and that we would be left with extra time. So we were ready with prepared talks to fill in the extra time in case the need arose.
To our surprise, the first day was barely enough for four farmers to narrate their experiences. They not only told us what they had done, but also demonstrated their inventions.
Moving ant nests
Mr Israel Lemus had discussed this practice in the workshop, but we had also learnt of it from other farmers who had attended our course. It was possible to move ant nests when they were more or less new and not too deep. The nests were moved by first digging a pit where one wanted to relocate it. A little organic matter was placed in the pit and then the nest to be shifted was dug up till the brood was found. The soil, with ants and their brood, was dug up and carried in a shovel (or in a sack) and placed in the new location where the ants were provided food like bread crumbs. The relocated nest was covered with straw or grass. The ants settled down by digging a new nest deeper. But there is always a risk that ants would abandon the new home, especially when the queen is lost.
Many farmers knew something about ants but had not valued them as important agents of biological control. Many thought of ants merely as pests that sting people. For example, in a course conducted in January 1992, only 48 percent of the participants mentioned that ants ate insects, even though all of them could recognize ants. It was easy to show them that ants ate many insects. Some people already knew it, but underestimated the magnitude of the benefit that ants bestow on the farmer. After the farmers had learnt about the ants’ beneficial role, their attitude towards the insect changed dramatically. We recall the testimony of dona Enma Acosta de Bonilla of Catacamas, Olancho: earlier she used to douse ant nests with hot water to destroy them, but now she protects them.
Control of Scarab beetles
Some farmers did not really understand insect reproduction. For example, 41 percent of the course participants in 1992 believed in spontaneous generation. Most did not know what an adult white grub looked like. In some batches, not even one person knew.
With the coming of the first rains in May, the beetles that produce the white grubs emerge from the soil. They must be eliminated to reduce white grub damage in maize. Two farmer-extensionists, don Roque Esppinal, of Choluteca, and don Ismael Vargas, of Olancho, devised a light trap to attract beetles.
The first trap comprises a basin of water (with a little soap dissolved in it) and a board placed over it. A lighted candle was placed on the board and it was protected with a broken bottle to keep the wind from blowing it out. This trap was placed near trees where the beetles mated, for example: oak (Quercus spp), caulote or tapaculo and others. The beetles attracted by the candle flame drown in the soapy water.
The second trap was similar, but the basin of soapy water was placed below a tripod. A wire hung from the tripod holds a torch made from a can, sand, used engine oil and a wick made of a piece of strong fabric like canvas. Once the torch is lit, it remains burning for several hours. This method uses only simple and easily obtained materials. We have taught this experiment to subsequent batches to motivate people to do their own experiments.
Control of fall armyworm
Dona Hubalda Castro, a farmer from El Sitio, Comayagua, told us about the measures of checking fall armyworm by sprinkling sugar solution on her crop to attract ants and wasps that eat armyworms. She said that in a parcel (about 400 m2) where she had planted about two pounds (about one kg) of maize, she used four pounds (about two kg) of sugar. We had talked about this practice in the workshop. She told that she had taught the practice to a friend. The man seemed unconvinced, but was exasperated by hordes of the pest in his two ‘manzanas’ (1400 m2) of land. He spread 25 pounds of sugar, mixed with water, on his corn plants. According to dona Hubalda, the farmer’s friends had told him that he was crazy and that it would be better for him to give them that sugar so they could put it in their coffee. But when his trick worked and he had harvested over five wagon loads of maize, the people who had ridiculed him also began using sugar to control armyworms. When we visited them he was halfway through with his harvest.
Control of the chilli weevil
Dona Cladys Rojas, of Comayagua, told us that she controlled chilli weevil (Anthonomus eugenii Cano) in her home garden by cutting down the chilli plants from the top and destroying the cuttings. The chilli plants grew back from the roots and produced well.
Control of squash weevil
Israel Lemus explained how he controlled the squash weevil. He noticed that the weevil laid her eggs on the squash flower. When the flower closed and the fruit started to grow, the worm entered the fruit and ate it. On closer examination he found that when the flower closed, it sheltered the eggs and kept them from being eaten by natural enemies or from being destroyed by the elements. So he decided to cut the flower in half after it closed. This controlled the weevil completely. Literature does not report any weevils in squash as pests in Central America. It was possible that don Israel was referring to the squash borer, (Diaphania spp ), a Lepidoptera pest.
The farmers had a lot to share and show. Consequently, time was always running short in the workshop. Every farmer was an expert in his own way and everytime we had to skip over a proffered piece of information, we felt we were letting the dark side of social relations blind us to the value of a great source of knowledge.
Farmers are great experimenters and always adapting to change. They shared a lot in the workshops and with other farmers. If we enhance their knowledge, they can produce their own technologies faster. This supports the real process of participatory technology generation.
Control of grasslooper
Jose Pompilio Molina, of Olancho, had problems with grasslooper (Mocis latipes Guen), a Noctuid caterpillar that walked like an inchworm, in a 3/4 ‘manzana’ (5250 m2) maize field. He was able to control the pest by herding chickens onto his field. He told us that he borrowed chickens from his neighbours besides using his own. The birds ate the grassloopers; that also seemed to have boosted their egg laying. Jose told us that before attending the course he had applied different kinds of poisons, especially Tamaron (MTD), to control grasslooper.
Select Bibliography
Altieri, Miguel A. 1991. “Por que’ estudiar agricultura traditional?” Agroecologia Y Desarrollo 1(1):16-24.
Andrews, K.L. and Quezada, J.R. 1989. Manejo integrado de plagas insectiles en la agricultura. El Zamorano, Honduras: Escuela Agricola Panamericana, 623 pp.
Bentley J. W. 1990. “Conocimiento Y experimentos espontaneos de Campesinos hondurenos sobre el maiz muerto.” Manejo Integrado de Plagas. 17: 16-26.
__________. 1991a. “Que es Hielo? Percepciones de los campesinos hond-urenos sobre enfermedades del frijol Y otros cultivos.” Interciencia. 16:131-137.
__________. 1991b. “The Epistemology of Plant Protection: Honduran Campesino Knowledge of Pests and Natural Enemies.” In R.W.Gibson and A.Sweetmore (eds.) Proceedings of a Seminar on Crop Protection for Resource-Poor Farmers. Isle of Thorns, East Sussex, UK 4-8 November, 1991. Chatham: Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Co-operation (CTA) and Natural Resources Institute (NRI).
Bentley, J.W. and Werner, M. 1991. “Experimenting with Honduran Farmer-Experimenters.” ODA Agricultural Administration (Research and Extension) Network Newsletter 24(June):31-48.
Godell, G. 1990. “Experiencia de la participacion de agricultores en Asia, con relacion a Latinoamerica”. Ceiba. 31(2): 43-52.
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| Volume No. |
Honey Bee, 6(2):3-5, 1995 |
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