Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development _____________________________________________________________________ CARD Project Progress Report 036/04VIE Assessing the effectiveness of Farmer Field Schools for Implementation of Citrus IPM in Viet Nam MS4: SECOND SIX-MONTHLY REPORT 1 1. Institute Information Project Name Assessing the effectiveness of Farmer Field Schools for Implementation of Citrus IPM in Viet Nam Vietnamese Institution Plant Protection Department Vietnamese Project Team Leader Mr Ho Van Chien Australian Organisation University of Western Sydney Australian Personnel Debbie Rae, Oleg Nicetic, Robert Spooner-Hart Date commenced January 2005 Completion date (original) December 2006 Completion date (revised) Reporting period July to December 2005 Contact Officer(s) In Australia: Team Leader Name: Debbie Rae Telephone: +61245701118 Position: Research Program Coordinator Fax: +61245701103 Organisation University of Western Sydney Email: d.rae@uws.edu.au In Australia: Administrative contact Name: Gar Jones Telephone: +6124736 0631 Position: Director, Research Services Fax: +6124736 0905 Organisation University of Western Sydney Email: g.jones@uws.edu.au In Vietnam Name: Mr Ho Van Chien Telephone: +8473834476 Position: Director Fax: +8473834477 Organisation Southern Regional Plant Protection Centre Email: hvchien@vnn.vn 2 1. Project Abstract Citrus is an important fruit crop in Viet Nam but productivity and production is impeded by a range of pests and diseases. Integrated pest management (IPM) is widely recognised as an effective and sustainable method of pest and disease control. Viet Nam has a well- developed National IPM program of farmer participatory training and research using Farmer Field Schools (FFS) which has trained more than 500,000 farmers in IPM technologies for rice, vegetable, cotton, tea, soybean, peanut, and sweet potato crops. This project has allowed the commencement of FFS training in citrus with 98 trainers attending Master Training classes during April and May 2005 and these trainers subsequently leading 24 FFS across 12 provinces in the Mekong Delta and the Central Coast regions of Viet Nam. Farmers attended FFS weekly for 21 weeks and also participated in teaching demonstration trials. Funding from outside the project budget allowed study tours for farmers in the Mekong Delta to neighbouring provinces and project review workshops in 3 locations with representatives from all 12 provinces involved. Feedback from project participants has resulted in modifications to the training programs for 2006 which will improve their relevance and effectiveness. 2. Executive Summary Viet Nam has a well-developed National IPM program that has resulted in more than 500,000 farmers being trained in IPM technologies for rice, vegetable, cotton, tea, soybean, peanut, and sweet potato crops. Prior to this project no IPM training had been conducted in citrus, despite it being an important fruit crop in Viet Nam. In the first year of this project efficient planning and sustained efforts by all project personnel has resulted in 98 master trainers being trained by 10 key scientists, and these trainers successfully conducting 24 FFS in 12 provinces in the Mekong Delta and Central Coast regions of Viet Nam. FFS involved weekly farmer meetings and were conducted over 21 weeks. Trainers developed a schedule of activities during the master training program and these activities were conducted simultaneously at all FFS. Teaching demonstration trials were also implemented in 16 FFS. A farmer practice baseline study was conducted at 15 locations and all farmers participating in FFS completed a 52-question pre- and post-intervention survey. Results from the 727 pre-intervention surveys and 694 post-intervention surveys have now been analysed. All components of the project logframe for 2005 have been completed. Two major additional outputs to the project logframe have also been achieved and these will significantly enhance the relevance of the project to both trainers and citrus farmers. Study tours that allowed farmers to visit FFS in nearby provinces were funded by the Australian Organisation and three review workshops that allowed very important feedback about the training program in 2005 from participants were sponsored by Bayer Viet Nam and SK Corporation Korea. At the project review workshops it was agreed that the training program for 2006 should be modified to improve the effectiveness and relevance of the training. Modifications include TOT being held earlier in the year with more practical sessions and FFS starting earlier and finishing later with less frequent sessions to allow all phenological stages of citrus from flowering to harvest to be included in the program. 3 3. Introduction & Background Citrus fruit is one of the major fruit crops in Vietnam (MARD 2004) and citrus production is an important source of income for many Vietnamese farmers. However, productivity and production of citrus in Vietnam is considerably lower than in Australia and major citrus producing countries of the world such as Brazil and the USA. It has been stated by MARD that “in general, citrus cultivation has not been significantly developed over the past few years, largely because of the serious damage of pests and diseases, especially greening disease (officially known as huanglongbing) and therefore studies on their control methods, in combination with managing citrus plantations and using advanced and intensive technology is a vital necessity” (MARD 2004). The objectives of this project are to conduct Training of Trainers (TOT) for Master Trainers in citrus IPM, for Master Trainers to conduct FFSs in their local region and to assess the effectiveness of the FFS model in increasing farmer knowledge and optimising pesticide use in citriculture. These objectives will contribute to the empowerment of citrus farmers by enhancing their ability to make better-informed decisions about pest and disease management through the adoption of IPM strategies in citrus production in Viet Nam. Once a network of citrus IPM Master Trainers is established and these trainers have gained essential practical experience in citrus IPM training by holding at least one season long FFSs in citrus, Viet Nam should have a significantly enhanced capacity to develop citrus IPM programs. Multiple outputs from IPM training have been demonstrated in other cropping systems. These include: farmer empowerment through increased knowledge of the agro-ecosystem; the conservation of biodiversity and protection of the environment through reduced pesticide application as a result of improved knowledge of pests and diseases and more effective control measures; increased food security through enhanced production; and protection of the health of farming communities and consumers of fruit through reduced pesticide use in fruit production. The key methodologies adopted in this project are participatory based learning and action based research. The objective of both techniques is to fully engage participants and allow them to direct the learning and research to best meet their needs. 4. Progress to Date Implementation Highlights Successful implementation of the program for 2005 has resulted in 98 trainers being effectively trained and these trainers conducting FFS at 24 locations in 8 provinces in the Mekong Delta and 4 provinces in the Central Coast region of Viet Nam (Table 1). Two additional FFS were held in Tien Giang province using local government funding, and 2 more have been pledged for 2006 . This is a very significant 4 endorsement of the relevance and usefulness of the training and it is expected that as awareness of the FFS program in citrus increases, more locally FFS will be held. Table 1. Location of FFS Province Number of FFS MEKONG DELTA Tien Giang 3 + 2* Dong Thap 2 Vinh Long 3 Can Tho 3 Tra Vinh 1 Hau Giang 2 Soc Trang 1 Ben Tre 3 CENTRAL COAST Khanh Hoa 2 Binh Dinh 1 Quang Nam 1 Nghe An 2 TOTAL 24 * Funded by local government FFS commenced in June and ran for 21 consecutive weeks using a schedule of activities refined by the trainers during the master training program (see First 6-month report). Key project scientists attended the opening of 16 FFS and during these visits a farmer practice baseline study was conducted and teaching demonstration trials implemented. Major findings from the farmer practice baseline study were: ¾ there are marked differences in the agro-ecological systems and citrus growing practices used in the Mekong Delta and the Central Coast region (including Nghe An province) ¾ farmers need to acquire more skills in recognising pests and diseases and connecting these pests and diseases to the phenology of citrus trees ¾ spray application is mainly based on the use of knapsack sprayers ¾ the current economic situation and the impractical nature of the pest and disease control strategies developed as part of ACIAR project CS2/2000/043 (high volume mineral oil sprays) and of a CIRAD project (imidicloprid painted onto trunks) resulted in a new strategy being adopted that combines elements of both strategies and current farmer practice (1 application of imidicloprid followed by 2 mineral oil sprays per flush). Details of the farmer practice baseline study and findings are provided in Annex 1. In September the Australian Organisation agreed to financially support farmer study tours in the Mekong Delta from sources other than the project budget, and a total of $2494 was transferred to Viet Nam (Annex 2). Farmer study tours were conducted from the 24-29 th October with a total of 540 farmers from 18 FFS in 8 provinces in the Mekong Delta visiting a FFS in another province. Farmers from seven provinces visited Lai Vung district in Dong Thap province and farmers from Lai Vung visited Cai Bei district in Tien Giang province. 5 The second additional objective of conducting review workshops in Can Tho, My Tho and Vinh was achieved in November, with sponsorship from Bayer. At these meetings the results of demonstration trials were reported by trainers, TOT and FFS training programs were evaluated, feedback provided and revisions to the TOT and FFS curriculum were agreed on (Annex 3). Capacity Building The institutional capacity of the PPD to facilitate farmer participatory training is high and this project is further enhancing that capacity by addressing capability gaps in relation to specific knowledge about citrus IPM. During the first year of this project it has become clear that most of the necessary skills and expertise are available within Vietnamese Universities and research institutions, but limited funds within local institutions for travel result in poor access to this expertise. This project has provided some funds to allow travel for Vietnamese personnel, but this is not sufficient and it is recommended that more funds be allocated for travel within Vietnam in future projects. The Australian Institution provided additional travel funds for Dr Nguyen Thi Thu Cuc from Can Tho University to visit the Central Coast region of Vietnam as described in the first 6-monthly report. Forming linkages is also a critical component of capacity building and all efforts are being made to build linkages between this project and other related projects. As part of the farmer practice baseline study it was observed that phytophthora occurred in every region and province visited and it appears that it could be as serious a problem as Huanglongbing. However, farmers were generally unaware of the problem and only a small component of the training included in the TOT related to phytophthora in 2005. As another CARD project 052/04VIE “Management of phytophthora diseases in Vietnamese horticulture” is currently underway, UWS staff visited Professor David Guest, the Australian project leader of the phytophthora project, to discuss the problem of phytophthora in citrus. Professor Guest provided very useful information on phytophthora and also lists of Vietnamese personnel involved in the phytophthora project (Annex 4) and these were forwarded to the project leader, Mr Ho Van Chien who facilitated linkages between the projects. Mr Duong Minh from Can Tho University has now attended two of the three review meetings for this project held in December 2005, and he will participate in TOT in 2006. Training Programs Training is a major component of this project and it has been conducted at two levels during 2005. A total of 98 experienced PPD personnel received training in citrus IPM and these trainers then facilitated a total of 24 FFSs in their local regions. In addition to the FFS funded by the project, Tien Giang province conducted an additional 2 FFS funded by the local government. Details of the training programs are discussed in the “Implementation Highlights” section of this report. 6 Publicity A finding of the pre-intervention survey was that the best way to disseminate information to farmers through the media is by television as more than 90% of all farmers have a television set in their own home. Every province in Vietnam has a local television station and as 70% of the population live in rural areas, the level of content relating to agricultural matters is high. Television reporters have been invited to all major project events such as meetings and the opening and closing of FFS. Numerous television reports about the project were broadcast in 2005, and details of reports broadcast on National TV (VTV), Can Tho TV (CVTV) and Vinh Long TV (VLTV) are provided in table 2. In July and September Tien Giang TV also hosted 60 minute sessions on the program “Farmers’ Bridge” where farmers called the TV station with questions about the use of new technologies in citrus orchards and scientists answered. Table 2. Details of television programs reporting on project activities Topic Program title Program length (mins) Broadcast date TV channel “IPM” a new technology on fruits commodity production Specialist topics of Horticulture 30 Aug 31 VTV Technologies for good taking care of Citrus orchards at the end of rainy season (use of organic-fertilizer with Trichoderma and quick drainage) Specialist topics of Horticulture 30 Nov 26 VTV Citrus IPM - Experiences to manage Citrus orchards by pruning during rainy season Specialist topics of Horticulture 30 Sept 15 VTV Citrus IPM as the new method to take care and manage quality production of “Hong mandarin” orchards pre-post havest for “Marketing-oriented” in Tet holiday Farmers’ Bridge 60 Nov 17 VTV IPM-The technology methods applied in practice to reduce costs (low inputs) of Citrus production in Mekong Delta Farmers’ Bridge 70 Nov 27 CVTV Developing and using organic fertilizer in sustainable agriculture production Farmers’ Bridge 70 Dec11 CVTV Prevention and treatment water flooding for Citrus orchards Horticultural Practices 15 Sept 15 CVTV 7 IPM - Enhancing effect of productivity and improve quality of citrus fruits by PSO using Farmers’ Bridge 120 Jul. 9 VLTV IPM on Citrus program in Vinh Long of PPD and WSU Agriculture- Rural Report 11 Sept 20 VLTV Greening disease attacked on King orange and need to have IPM extension to prevent it Agriculture- Rural Report 10 Oct 25 VLTV IPM - good control of root rot diseases caused Fusarium solani and stem root gummy disease caused Phytophthora spp. Growth technology report 15 Nov 29 VLTV IPM as a advance method for Greening disease control on King orange in Tra On district- Vinh Long province News 03.40 Nov 30 VLTV The abstract of a paper entitled “Resilience of the Vietnamese citrus industry: Vietnamese farmers learn to live with Huanglongbing” has been submitted to the 27 th International Horticultural Congress to be held in Seoul, Korea from August 13-19, 2006 (see Annex 5). Project Management The Vietnamese Project Team Leader has demonstrated exceptional project management skills and great resourcefulness. In addition to coordinating the training of 98 trainers and successful completion of 24 FFS across 12 provinces in 2005, Mr Ho Van Chien has initiated a range of activities outside the original scope of the project. These include provision of hand lenses to all FFS, arrangement of study tours allowing farmers in the Mekong Delta to visit citrus farms in different provinces to their own, and the organisation of three review workshops in November 2006. Funding for all these activities has come from outside the project budget. The Southern Fruit Research Institute has also contributed greatly to the training program providing 3 lecturers for the TOT program in 2005. This was not envisioned in the project document and as such their time is not included as part of the in kind contribution. The expertise of SOFRI researchers has greatly strengthened the scope of training provided to trainers. The Australian Organisation has demonstrated great commitment to the project and has facilitated training activities in Vietnam by forwarding funds to the Vietnamese Institution before they have been received from the funding organisation. The Australian Organisation has also provided additional funds outside the budget to allow study tours for FFS participants in the Mekong Delta. However, provision of additional funds is not sustainable given the difficult economic situation that all Australian Universities are currently faced with. Oleg Nicetic has contributed additional time to this project in Viet Nam when he travelled to conduct research on a related SK Corporation funded project. All travel costs were paid from the SK project. 8 5. Report on Cross-Cutting Issues Environment The focus of FFS is to increase the farmers understanding of the ecosystem and the impact of human influences on it. This approach has the potential to reduce the detrimental impacts of human activities on the environment. Farmers in the Mekong Delta are reporting that IPM strategies they learned in FFS and have adopted on their own farms have made it possible for them to raise fish in the canals between the citrus trees. This is clear evidence of improved ecosystem health. Gender and Social Issues In the training of master trainers a total of 69 males and 29 females have been trained. This proportion of males and females is reflective of the overall PPD trainer gender balance. In the central coast region, the ratio of male to female farmers participating in the FFS is similar to that of the trainers. However, in the Mekong Delta region the proportion of females participating in FFS is lower. This may be related to traditional roles of women in the delta being more oriented to animal husbandry. Representatives from VACVINA, the Women’s Union and the Farmers Union are always invited to project planning meetings and more input is being sought from them in relation to project gender and social issues. 6. Implementation Issues Issues and Constraints An important constraint of the project is limited local resources available to Vietnamese scientists, researchers and trainers to allow them to travel outside their local region in order to seek or provide expertise and exchange information. While there are some inherent barriers to the exchange of information between regions, such as use of different dialects of Vietnamese, these are relatively minor. Major constraints are the very small local budgets for travel between institutions, and even for telephone calls within Viet Nam. Travel by local bus and train is relatively cheap compared to air travel, but poor roads and frequent stopping make such travel time- consuming and physically taxing. The provision of additional funds for Vietnamese project personnel to undertake air travel between regions would greatly facilitate the establishment of professional relationships which could then be maintained using communication by email. Exchange of information between farmers except on a very local scale is also limited. Farmer study tours were funded from outside the project budget to facilitate exchange of information between farmers from different provinces. The study tours were greatly appreciated by farmers, and trainers attending the review meetings reported that farmers wanted more study tours. Additional sources of funding are being investigated, but at this stage the likelihood of obtaining funding is not known. 9 Options At the review meetings the option of increasing the number of FFS by 50% (from 24 to 36) from 2005 to 2006 rather than an increase of 100% (from 24 to 48) as planned, in order to increase the resources available for each FFS, was suggested. This was not considered a viable option, because of the extremely high demand for FFS. Additional sources of funding to supplement project activities will continue to be sought. Feedback from the review workshops held in November consistently indicated the need to modify the training programs. Participants requested more practical components to the TOT and for the FFS to run for longer to allow all phenological stages of citrus from flowering to harvest to be included in the program. Key scientists involved in the delivery of TOT will be asked to restructure their teaching program to include a lecture session on the morning and a practical session in the field in the afternoon. The agreed strategy to extend the FFS program from flowering to harvest was to retain 21 teaching sessions as in 2005, but for these sessions to be held less frequently and concentrated around the important phenological stages of the citrus trees and their pests and diseases. 7. Conclusion High levels of enthusiasm for this project, efficient planning, open communication between project personnel and sustained efforts have resulted in all components of the project logframe for 2005 being completed. Additional objectives were also achieved using funding from outside the project budget. Review meetings provided invaluable feedback from project participants and training programs will be modified in 2006 to improve their relevance and effectiveness. List of Annexes Annex 1. Farmer practice baseline study Annex 2. Costs and funds provided for farmer study tours in the Mekong Delta Annex 3. Review workshop outcomes Annex 4. Phytophthora project participants Annex 5. Abstract of paper to be presented at the 27 th International Horticultural Congress in Seoul, Korea 10 [...]... practices and their economic circumstances determine the major gaps in the knowledge of farmers so that these topics can be included in the FFS Findings Dominant citrus species In the Mekong Delta mandarin (King and Tieu varieties) are the most commonly grown species, but the area planted with pomelo is expanding rapidly (Table 1) In the Central Coast, pomelo is by far the most dominant species while in Nghe... achieving this will be a focus of the training in 2006 As another CARD project 05204VIE “Management of phytophthora diseases in Vietnamese horticulture” is currently underway, UWS staff visited the Australian project leader of the phytophthora project Professor David Guest to discuss the problem of phytophthora in citrus Linkages were formed between the projects by connecting participating Vietnamese... hectare while in Nghe An province there were between 60 0-7 00 trees per hectare The practice of high-density plantings in the Mekong Delta has possibly arisen as a strategy to allow farmers to maintain a relatively continuous income from citrus on 1 their small holdings, even though trees are consistently being killed by huanglongbing (citrus greening disease) or other diseases When the trees in an orchard... considered the major problems by interviewed farmers, but huanglongbing was observed to be more serious and widespread than in any other province visited Farmers are aware that psylla transmit huanglongbing, and the use of disease free material is greater than in southern Vietnam, but there is a general misconception that controlling psylla on the spring flush (that bears the fruit in the following autumn)... participating in the FFS about their citrus growing practices with particular emphasis on pest and disease control A local agricultural chemical shop was also visited and the owner or manager interviewed to determine the dominant pesticides that are sold to local citrus growers Information collected from these interviews complements detailed information collected from each of the participating farmers in. .. Minh from Can Tho University has now attended two of the three review workshops for this project held in November 2005 Pesticides were generally not overused in the regions and provinces visited However, timing of spraying and the type of pesticide used needs to be optimised In Nghe An province the number of sprays can be reduced, but in the Central Coast the number of sprays needs to be increased for. .. develop 2 independent training programs, it is important that training programs for both trainers and farmers and the recommendations developed for pest and disease management take into account the differences between the 2 regions Farmers need to acquire more skills in recognising pests and diseases and connecting these pests and diseases to the phenology of citrus trees In 2005 the IPM strategies trialled... sufficient In order to prevent transmission of huanglongbing, psylla need to be controlled year round on all flushes This point will be emphasised in the training in the second year of the project Phytophthora was observed in every region and province visited and although it appears to be as serious a problem as Huanglongbing, most farmers were unaware of the disease Much greater awareness of the disease... using Trichoderma and compost to better manage phytophthora Conclusions It is clear from the information collected from interviews and observations that there are marked differences in the agro-ecological systems and citrus growing practices used in the Mekong Delta and the Central Coast region (including Nghe An province) Although within this project it is not possible to develop 2 independent training... an age of 4-6 years, farmers interplant the orchard with young seedlings When the older trees reach an age of 1 0-1 2 years they are removed and more seedlings planted resulting in continuous production from the same orchard This is a very effective strategy, but more comparative analysis needs to be conducted to determine the most effective planting density It is clear that planting densities of 4000 . effectiveness of Farmer Field Schools for Implementation of Citrus IPM in Viet Nam MS4: SECOND SIX-MONTHLY REPORT 1 1. Institute Information Project Name Assessing the effectiveness of Farmer. The objectives of this project are to conduct Training of Trainers (TOT) for Master Trainers in citrus IPM, for Master Trainers to conduct FFSs in their local region and to assess the effectiveness. practices and their economic circumstances ¾ determine the major gaps in the knowledge of farmers so that these topics can be included in the FFS. Findings Dominant citrus species In the Mekong