Bruno Condori

Obstacles to integrated pest management adoption in developing countries

Significance Integrated pest management (IPM) has been the dominant crop protection paradigm promoted globally since the 1960s. However, its adoption by developing country farmers is surprisingly low. This article reports 51 potential reasons why, identified and prioritized by hundreds of IPM professionals and practitioners around the world. Stakeholders from developing countries prioritized different adoption obstacles than those from high-income countries. Surprisingly, a few of the obstacles prioritized in developing countries appear to be overlooked by the literature. We suggest that a more vigorous analysis and discussion of the factors discouraging IPM adoption in developing countries may accelerate the progress needed to bring about its full potential. Despite its theoretical prominence and sound principles, integrated pest management (IPM) continues to suffer from anemic adoption rates in developing countries. To shed light on the reasons, we surveyed the opinions of a large and diverse pool of IPM professionals and practitioners from 96 countries by using structured concept mapping. The first phase of this method elicited 413 open-ended responses on perceived obstacles to IPM. Analysis of responses revealed 51 unique statements on obstacles, the most frequent of which was “insufficient training and technical support to farmers.” Cluster analyses, based on participant opinions, grouped these unique statements into six themes: research weaknesses, outreach weaknesses, IPM weaknesses, farmer weaknesses, pesticide industry interference, and weak adoption incentives. Subsequently, 163 participants rated the obstacles expressed in the 51 unique statements according to importance and remediation difficulty. Respondents from developing countries and high-income countries rated the obstacles differently. As a group, developing-country respondents rated “IPM requires collective action within a farming community” as their top obstacle to IPM adoption. Respondents from high-income countries prioritized instead the “shortage of well-qualified IPM experts and extensionists.” Differential prioritization was also evident among developing-country regions, and when obstacle statements were grouped into themes. Results highlighted the need to improve the participation of stakeholders from developing countries in the IPM adoption debate, and also to situate the debate within specific regional contexts.

Managing potato biodiversity to cope with frost risk in the high Andes: a modeling perspective.

Austral summer frosts in the Andean highlands are ubiquitous throughout the crop cycle, causing yield losses. In spite of the existing warming trend, climate change models forecast high variability, including freezing temperatures. As the potato center of origin, the region has a rich biodiversity which includes a set of frost resistant genotypes. Four contrasting potato genotypes –representing genetic variability- were considered in the present study: two species of frost resistant native potatoes (the bitter Solanum juzepczukii, var. Luki, and the non-bitter Solanum ajanhuiri, var. Ajanhuiri) and two commercial frost susceptible genotypes (Solanum tuberosum ssp. tuberosum var. Alpha and Solanum tuberosum ssp. andigenum var. Gendarme). The objective of the study was to conduct a comparative growth analysis of four genotypes and modeling their agronomic response under frost events. It included assessing their performance under Andean contrasting agroecological conditions. Independent subsets of data from four field experiments were used to parameterize, calibrate and validate a potato growth model. The validated model was used to ascertain the importance of biodiversity, represented by the four genotypes tested, as constituents of germplasm mixtures in single plots used by local farmers, a coping strategy in the face of climate variability. Also scenarios with a frost routine incorporated in the model were constructed. Luki and Ajanhuiri were the most frost resistant varieties whereas Alpha was the most susceptible. Luki and Ajanhuiri, as monoculture, outperformed the yield obtained with the mixtures under severe frosts. These results highlight the role played by local frost tolerant varieties, and featured the management importance –e.g. clean seed, strategic watering- to attain the yields reported in our experiments. The mixtures of local and introduced potatoes can thus not only provide the products demanded by the markets but also reduce the impact of frosts and thus the vulnerability of the system to abiotic stressors.

Impact of climate change on the potato crop and biodiversity in its center of origin

Abstract The Andean region is the most important center of potato diversity in the world. The global warming trend which has taken place since the 1950s, that is 2-3 times the reported global warming and the continuous presence of extreme events makes this region a live laboratory to study the impact of climate change. In this review, we first present the current knowledge on climate change in the Andes, as compared to changes in other mountain areas, and the globe in general. Then, the review describes the ecophysiological strategies to cope and adapt to changes in atmospheric CO2 levels, temperature and soil water availability. As climate change also has a significant effect on the magnitude and frequency of the incidence of pests and diseases, the current knowledge of the dynamics of vectors in the Andean region is discussed. The use of modeling techniques to describe changes in the range expansion and number of insect pest generations per year as affected by increases in temperature is also presented. Finally, the review deals with the use of crop modeling to analyze the likely impact of projected climate scenarios on potato yield and tuber initiation.

How big is the potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) yield gap in Sub-Saharan Africa and why? A participatory approach

Abstract According to potato experts from ten Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) countries working together in a community of practice (CoP) over a 3-years period, potato farmers across SSA can increase their current annual production of 10.8 million metric tons by 140% if they had access to high quality seed along with improved management practices. This paper describes this innovative new methodology tested on potato for the first time, combining modelling and a comprehensive online survey through a CoP. The intent was to overcome the paucity of experimental information required for crop modelling. Researchers, whose data contributed to estimating model parameters, participated in the study using Solanum, a crop model developed by the International Potato Center (CIP). The first finding was that model parameters estimated through participatory modelling using experts’ knowledge were good approximations of those obtained experimentally. The estimated yield gap was 58 Mg ha-1, of which 35 corresponded to a research gap (potential yield minus research yield) and 24 to farmers’ gap (research yield minus farmer’s yield). Over a 6-month period, SurveyMonkey, a Web-based platform was used to assess yield gap drivers. The survey revealed that poor quality seed and bacterial wilt were the main yield gap drivers as perceived by survey respondents.