Dissemination of ecological practices in the management of potato pests

Inter-institutional Platform for Integrated Pest Management (IPM) in Peru

Context of the story

Potatoes are the main food of the Andean people. The Andes weevils (Premnotrypes spp.) and potato moths (Phthorimaea operculella, Symmetrischema tangolias, Tecia solanivora) are the key pests that limit production and crop quality in Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru. Farmers use highly toxic insecticides, putting their health and the environment at risk. The CIP and its collaborators from Ecuador and Bolivia, within the framework of the project financed by FONTAGRO, CGIAR # 0604/06, managed to develop a new IPM strategy generating new ecological tools to reduce the use of insecticides.

Technology Transfer

The Implemented Initiative

The project's objective was to contribute to decrease the losses caused by the main potato insect pests, through the dissemination of a new Integrated Pest Management (IPM) with less polluting technologies, and thus contribute to the reduction of poverty by improving food security. The specific objectives of the project were: 1) the establishment of an inter-institutional IPM platform in Peru, 2) the promotion of IPM with the involvement of the private sector, 3) the training of 'multiplier' actors and 4) coordinate and establish a monitoring system for impact analysis.

Dissemination of a new Potato Integrated Pest Management program

The technological solution

Development and implementation of a new Integrated Potato Pest Management program for the Andean zone, which includes the use of plastic barriers, toxic attractants, increased functional diversity and the use of Bt talc to control moths in storage, which proved to be as efficient as chemical control, with the additional advantages of protecting natural enemies and the environment.

“The workshops with leaders of the organizations created the conceptual basis for the coordination and establishment of a pilot version of a monitoring system on the subject of IPM.”

— Thomas Miethbauer

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Type of project

Integrated Pest Management

Sustainable intensification

Strategy 1. Resilient farms

Results

The establishment and strengthening of a platform called RED MIPapa that integrates 20 organizations / institutions was achieved. There is a MIPapa NETWORK website (https://research.cip.cgiar.org/confluence/display/MiPapa/Home) through which access to information and training materials on the different topics of IPM and the exchange of experiences is facilitated. In addition, monitoring information is presented. The files that are available are actively downloaded. More than 11,000 downloads have been made.