Insects (2019) 10 (8 - 226)

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Dirk Babendreier, Min Wan, Rui Tang, Rui Gu, Justice Tambo, Zhi Liu, Manfred Grossrieder, Monica Kansiime, Anna Wood, Feng Zhang and Dannie Romney (2019)
Impact assessment of biological control-based integrated pest management in rice and maize in the Greater Mekong Subregion
Insects 10 (8 - 226)
Abstract: The impact and sustainability of two interventions that have been formulated to introduce integrated pest management (IPM) into rice and maize crops in Southwestern China, Laos, and Myanmar between 2011 and 2016, and were assessed at the end of 2017. From 22 Trichogramma rearing facilities established during the interventions, 11 were still producing substantial quantities of biocontrol agents 1.5 years after project support had ended, while seven had stopped operations completely, and four were doing stock rearing only. Through the implementation of biological control-based IPM, slightly higher yields were achieved in maize and rice (4–10%), when compared to control farmers, but the difference was not statistically significant. However, the use of pesticides nearly halved when farmers started using Trichogramma egg-cards as a biological control agent. Support from either public or private institutions was found to be important for ensuring the sustainability of Trichogramma rearing facilities. Many of the suggested IPM measures were not adopted by smallholder farmers, indicating that the positive impacts of the interventions mostly resulted from the application of Trichogramma biological control agents. The following assessment suggests that further promotion of IPM adoption among farmers is needed to upscale the already positive effects of interventions that facilitate reductions in synthetic pesticide use, and the effects on sustainable agricultural production of rice and maize in the target area more generally.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied with permission by the publisher.)
(original language: English)
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Database assignments for author(s): Dirk Babendreier, Feng Zhang

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
biocontrol - natural enemies
Research topic(s) for beneficials or antagonists:
evaluation - screening - selection

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
Trichogramma (genus - parasitoids)