Learning from Nature's "Book" Integrated Pest Management in Indonesia Case Study Click on either of these two links for further information about this case study: Teacher's Notes   Student Activities Thinking about Pests Have you ever watched a caterpillar chew through a leaf? Have you ever heard the bad things people say about cockroaches? Have you ever seen an advertisement for fly spray on TV? Have you ever wondered about the damage that certain insects do to major food crops such as wheat, corn or rice? Farmers everywhere have to make sure that their food crops are protected from insect pests. In Indonesia, where farmers have been cultivating rice for more than 3000 years, there have been many changes in the way that pests are controlled. In recent years chemicals were introduced to kill certain insect pests. Many of these chemicals are now considered to be dangerous and other ways of managing pests are being taught to farmers to help them reduce the use of chemical pesticides. Dangerous Chemicals Chemicals can be dangerous when they: enter the soil and waterways; are harmful to human health; damage other living things as well as the pests. Farmers Field Schools Farmers Field Schools are set up by the government to teach rice growers how to grow their crops in environmentally responsible ways. This includes learning how to manage pests without using harmful chemicals. The system they learn to use is called Integrated Pest Management (IPM) which combines many different ways to control pests. Because the schools are set-up in the rice fields, farmers are able to use nature as their "text book". The farmers: observe how plants, insects and other living things interact; record the changes that take place in the field; try out different ways of controlling pests; learn and share ideas and knowledge with others. Notes from the Field Seema Sanghi is a technical writer for the IPM - Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in Jakarta. She was recently in Indonesia where she visited some Farmers Field Schools. The following notes from her journal describe how they work. "I travelled to a place in Java with five people from Nepal who had also come to learn about the program. On our first day we took part in a Field Studies School. This was the fourth week of the rice growing season and we joined the farmers in their field work. Here all the learning materials were supplied by the rice field itself. Farmers observed the field, gathered insects from the pest management plot and made notes. Everyone then discussed the differences between two fields and made a display." Gathering insects to study "We then talked about the life cycle of different insects. By learning what the insects like to eat at certain stages the farmers can work out when the insect may become a pest. The farmers then broke into groups and chose one insect to study. They made drawings of different stages in the life cycle and then each group showed their work to the rest of the group. I liked the way we could see the real insects in front of us in their own environment. It was much more interesting than looking at pictures in books." "The next day we attended a follow-up session with farmers who had already completed a Field Studies School. The farmers were planning their next growing season. The leader encouraged them to think of ways to improve their situation. They drew pictures of their ideal situation and then planned how to do this. They were asked how they were going to reach their goals, who could help, what they would need and most importantly who would carry out the different tasks needed to reach the ideal!" Observing local insects The next day Seema visited a different village where the farmers had built a meeting house in the middle of the wet and muddy rice field. "It was easy for everyone to see what is being talked about. It is like having their own science laboratory where the farmers can do their research on the spot!" "Many people are surprised at these places where farmers find out how to do things for themselves instead of being told what to do by some official! This group of about 25 farmers were interested in using plants as pesticides rather than chemicals. They were trying mint and garlic and ginger to discourage the pests." "These farmers had set up an "insect zoo" to see the effects that different plant sprays had on different insects. This would help them to understand the interaction between plants and insects. I thought that this might have been the way things were done before the introduction of chemicals." After the meeting Seema and her companions were invited to one of the farmer's homes. He showed them colourful wooden hand puppets that he uses to teach people about IPM. A colourful wooden puppet "One of the puppets looked quite evil. It was the brown plant hopper - a most dreaded pest. The other puppet with the big red smile was a rice farmer. The farmer takes his puppets to weddings, meetings and ceremonies to teach people about IPM." "After this meeting I began to see that IPM is not just about pests and rice but about a whole new way of thinking. A way of making connections between people, plants and animals and how we do things. The farmers in this group have certainly taken IPM as a way of life. After all here was a puppeteer who feels so strongly about IPM that at a wedding he tells the story of how to manage pests instead of a story about the handsome prince and his beautiful princess!"   Top © Commonwealth of Australia