The Guyana Rice Development Board is conducting a study on reducing the damage of paddy bugs on rice crops without compromising the country’s rice export to the European Union market.
Because many European countries are rejecting rice with high pesticide residue, the board is looking at pesticide alternatives to manage the pest.
One focus of the study is the use of biopesticides.
Read the story @Loop
More on environmentally safe pest management:
Farmer, service provider, manufacturer, extension worker: Four perspectives on rice seeders and IPM in Cambodia
Sustainable innovations have the potential to render crop production in Cambodia more efficient and environmentally friendly. In fact, it’s at the core of the partnership between the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Integrated Pest Management and IRRI. The collaboration works to increase access to sustainable, time-saving, and yield-increasing farming technologies that will help farmers across the country grow rice in greater quantities and with higher quality.
IPM (No, not integrated pesticide management!)
Most Asian countries are importing an ever-increasing amount of pesticides. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations data showed that Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, and India at least tripled their pesticide import values between 2000 and 2010. Many of these pesticides are used for rice production. The frequency of insecticide application in Java in Indonesia is among the highest in Southeast Asia.
Vietnam turns back a tsunami of pesticides
Thanks to misunderstandings about pest control and heavy marketing, Asia’s pesticide use has skyrocketed in recent decades. Pesticide imports by 11 Southeast Asian countries grew nearly sevenfold in value between 1990 and 2010, according to Food and Agriculture Organization statistics, with disastrous results. Overuse indiscriminately kills beneficial as well as harmful insects, and decimates bird and amphibian populations. Pesticides are also suspected of harming human health and are a common means for rural Asians to commit suicide.
