Victor H. Barrera

Effectiveness of Integrated Pest Management Dissemination Techniques: A Case Study of Potato Farmers in Carchi, Ecuador

Potato farmers in Ecuador rely on chemical inputs to manage pests and optimize yields. Integrated pest management techniques lower production costs, reduce pesticide exposure, and improve long-term agricultural sustainability. Public extension does not, however, exist in Ecuador, and cost-effective means of communicating complex messages to producers are needed. We analyze cost-effectiveness of alternative dissemination methods, including farmer field schools (FFS), field days, pamphlets, and word-of-mouth transmission. Field days and pamphlets have strong impacts on adoption, especially considering their low costs. FFS are effective, but expensive. Evidence also indicates significant diffusion from FFS to non-FFS farmers, indicating high complementarity across methods.

Does IPM Have Staying Power? Revisiting a Potato‐producing Area Years After Formal Training Ended

Integrated pest management (IPM) potentially reduces pesticide use and costs of agricultural production. However, IPM is knowledge intensive and its spread may dissipate over time due to knowledge required for its effective implementation and to competing messages about pest control. We examine IPM spread and adoption several years after formal intensive IPM outreach efforts ceased in a potato-producing region in Ecuador. We describe adoption patterns and sources of IPM knowledge in 2012 and compare them with patterns that existed when outreach ceased in 2003. Results show that IPM adoption continues in the area but with a lower proportion of farmers fully adopting all practices and a higher proportion adopting low to moderate levels as compared to 2003. Almost all potato farmers in the area use some IPM practices, reflecting a major increase in IPM use. Farmer-to-farmer spread has supplanted formal training and outreach mechanisms. IPM adoption significantly lowers pesticide use and saves production costs for adopters.

FARM-LEVEL ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF CONSERVATION AGRICULTURE IN ECUADOR

SUMMARY Farm households in the Andean region of South America face serious livelihood challenges, including a poor natural resource base and declining agricultural yields. Conservation agriculture has been identified as a potential solution to environmental degradation and the associated poverty and food insecurity in the region. This study analyses the potential economic impact of conservation agriculture in two subwatersheds in central Ecuador utilizing a linear programming model and data from experiments in farmer fields. The model found that specific cover crops, crop rotations and reduced tillage designed to reduce soil erosion and increase soil organic matter can lead to increased incomes for farm households in a time period of as short as two years. It appears that conservation agriculture practices have the potential to improve the livelihoods of the rural poor in Ecuador because conservation agriculture activities entered the revenue-maximizing model solution for both sub-watersheds.

Positive impacts in soil and water conservation in an Andean region of South America: Case scenarios from a US Agency for International Development multidisciplinary cooperative project

GLOBAL CHALLENGES ARE EXEMPLIFIED IN THE ANDEAN REGION OF SOUTH AMERICA Several papers have questioned whether we will be able to achieve food security in the face of the many challenges this century brings, including climate change, an ever-increasing world population, depletion of water resources, soil desertification, and deforestation. Conservation agriculture (CA) shows high potential as a means of adaptation to and mitigation of climate change–related stressors. More generally, the application of soil and water conservation practices will help protect and strengthen soils and ensure that agricultural systems have a sustainable means of providing food security (Delgado et al. 2011; Lal et al. 2011). The Andean region of South America is one of the regions of the world that faces the challenge of increasing agricultural production while conserving soil quality and maintaining sustainability. Barrera et al. (2010a) reported on some of the challenges facing the Andean region, such as small and shrinking farm sizes, poor soils, erratic rainfall, and cultivation of areas (especially in high slopes) exposed to high erosion rates (figure 1). A large segment of the population in this region is dependent on the potato crop as a main staple, and the intensive cultivation of…

Graft is good: the economic and environmental benefits of grafted naranjilla in the Andean region

Naranjilla cultivation is highly profitable in many parts of the Andean foothills in Colombia and Ecuador. Its susceptibility to soil-borne diseases, however, lowers its economic benefits, reduces sustainability of production and increases its contribution to environmental degradation. This paper presents an analysis of the potential market and non-market benefits of research that developed and tested the grafting of common naranjilla onto disease-resistant rootstock. Grafting reduces the need for pesticide application and increases the longevity and sustainability of the plant. An economic surplus approach, carefully calibrated to reflect the realities of naranjilla production, was employed to show the large benefits from such research. Environmental and health benefits are very close in magnitude to market-mediated surplus gains. The results show substantial potential benefits from an outreach program to diffuse the new technology.

IPM Technologies for Potato Producers in Highland Ecuador

This chapter describes a research and outreach effort to develop and diffuse IPM packages for potatoes in highland Ecuador. Potato production in Carchi is essential for livelihoods of small-scale producers and these producers face growing pest problems. The research project identified key pest constraints, worked with farmers and local scientists to develop and test appropriate IPM technologies, and created packages tailored to farmer needs. The research was especially relevant because farmers in the area were using large quantities of highly toxic chemicals as a part of their pest-control regimes and human and environmental health were suffering as a result. The partnership with an ongoing research-outreach effort, ability to leverage prior research findings, and participatory engagement of local stakeholders all contributed to the project’s success. Emergence of new pests and changing potato market conditions are the main threats to long-term viability of the IPM packages, but they have spread into many potato farming communities in Carchi Province.

IPM Packages for Naranjilla: Sustainable Production in an Environmentally Fragile Region

In Ecuador’s Andean foothills, many colonists have planted naranjilla (Solanum quitoense), a perennial shrub and member of the section Lasiocarpa whose fruit is used to make a widely consumed juice. Naranjilla is highly profitable for small-scale farmers, representing one of the few economically profitable land uses in these environmentally vulnerable areas. However, naranjilla production in Ecuador is threatened by severe pest problems and the main solution—continual land-clearing—is environmentally unsustainable. The IPM CRSP invested more than 10 years of research to create an IPM package for naranjilla producers and this chapter describes the process of IPM package development, its components, and some of the potential impact of aggressive diffusion. The key constraint to naranjilla production a vascular wilt, which the IPM CRSP determined is caused by Fusarium oxysporum, is difficult to address through conventional control methods. As a result, hybrid and grafted varieties have been tested and released with uneven success. The CRSP helped develop a grafted version of the common variety and identified complementary pest-control techniques that, when combined with use of the grafted variety, can be used to produce economically and environmentally viable naranjilla fruits.

A new nitrogen index for assessment of nitrogen management of Andean mountain cropping systems of Ecuador

Abstract Corn (Zea mays L.) is important for food security in much of Ecuador. Small-scale farmers are using nitrogen (N) fertilizer without technical advice based on soil, crop, and climatologic data. The literature lacks studies where tools that can quickly assess management practices’ effects on N uptake, N use efficiency, and risk of N losses to the environment in high-altitude mountain systems are validated. We tested corn response to fertilizer application and the capability of the Nitrogen Index to assess N dynamics within a conservation agriculture production system in a mountainous area of Ecuador. Responses to fertilizer were tested across six sites in the Bolivar province. Steep slopes and declining soil productivity make conservation agriculture a promising option in this area. However, N availability is limiting for corn production and better information is needed to optimize the system. Corn responded to fertilizer application with an average increase of 30 kg ha−1 corn grain per every 1 kg of N ha−1 applied (P < 0.001). The data suggest that N leaching increased with fertilizer application for areas with precipitation greater than 900 mm. The Nitrogen Index for Ecuador was able to quickly assess management practices’ effects on N uptake (P < 0.001), N use efficiency (P < 0.001), and risk of N losses. It could be used to increase use of best management practices in these systems.

Conservation Agriculture in the Andean Highlands: Promise and Precautions

In the Andean Region (AR) of South America, the challenge of increasing agricultural production while conserving or improving the natural environment has attained a sense of urgency. This chapter examines the challenges faced by small-scale producers in the post-land reform areas of the Andean Region. It focuses on two critical challenges endemic in the region: variable climatic conditions and increasing scarcity of labor. It argues that small-scale farmers need new production options to assist in dealing with these challenges. Conservation agriculture represents a potential option in these areas and two examples are provided where conservation agriculture has shown some promise.

Experiences in integrated management of natural resources in the sub-watershed of the Chimbo River, Ecuador

Summary. As is typical of many rural areas in developing countries, the Andean region of Ecuador is characterized by extreme poverty, owing to low agricultural productivity, limited human skills in business management and implementation of production technologies as well as lack of access to product, input, and capital markets. Compounding the situation, high poverty indices occur together with the degradation of natural resources, infant malnutrition, social inequity, and a downward development spiral. Communities in these areas produce various food crops, however, these production activities degrade soil and water resources and contribute to deforestation and loss of biodiversity. This article summarizes and describes a process of adaptive watershed management which contributes to sustainable development in the Chimbo River sub-watershed. The process begins with technical studies of the state of soil resources, water, and biodiversity in the sub-watershed with the intent of designing a plan to modify production systems by incorporating more environmentally friendly practices. Challenges for watershed management are described. The conceptual framework, empirical strategy, and final results are presented which show how implementation of better practices for natural resource management and food production contribute to reducing environmental vulnerability and improvement in the welfare of local farm families in the watershed.