An information center within the network for AGRECOL sustainable agriculture in third world countries NATURAL CROP PROTECTION based on Local Farm Resources in the Tropics and Subtropics ILEIA P.O. Box 64 r.ahv <%tnll 3830AB LEUSDEN VJttUy kJlUII The Netherlands Tel. 033 - 494 30 86 Title page: Leaf and fruits of a Neem tree Drawing by Wolfgang Lang Last page: Twig of a Neem tree Photo by Gustav Espig Preparation of herbal insecticides Photo by HEKS, Zürich Idea and text: Gaby Stoll Illustrations and layout: Katrin Geigenmüller Translation: John Coates Printing and binding: F. & T. Müllerbader Filderstadt, Germany © Margraf Verlag, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1992, 1995, 1996 P.O. Box 105 97985 Weikersheim Germany The book is also available in French, German, Spanish and Thai. ISBN 3-8236-1113-5 C O N T E N T Foreword 5 Introduction 7 How to use this book 10 Principles of preventive crop protection 14 Pests in field and store 23 Rice 25 Maize 34 Legumes 44 Vegetables 50 Fruits 64 Storage 69 Methods of crop and storage protection 80 FIELD CULTIVATIONS Insecticidal plants 81 Mixtures 122 Animal substances 124 Ashes 127 Baits and traps 129 Other methods 138 STORAGE PROTECTION Principles of preventive storage protection 141 Insecticidal plants 146 Vegetable oils 163 Mineral substances and ashes 165 Other methods 167 References 168 Index 179 Current activities 185 Request for information 188 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I should like to express my grateful thanks to all those persons who made it possible to present this practical guide in its present form. Above all these are my colleagues Almut Hahn and Mathias Zimmermann, who were always ready to listen and talk things over, and who arranged the financial framework. Berchtold von Steiger and Helmut Hess made important criticisms and further in­ spired me. Thanks I also owe to the team of the Project-Consult, namely Marie-Luise Gebauer, for the exchange of reflections and information. Josef Margraf also deserves my thanks, not only for undertaking to publish this book, but also for the bottles of red wine we shared while discussing it. Katrin Geigenmüller has won­ derfully enlivened my rather dry text with her beautiful illustra­ tions. Dr. K. Carl of the Commonwealth Institute of Biological Control and Dipl.-Biol. C. Hellpapp, a member of the Organisation for the Promotion of Agriculture and Environmental Protection in the Third World, critically reviewed the manuscript and John Coates took considerable trouble with the English translation. Finally I am grateful to all those people who contributed funds or helped to raise funds as mentioned on page 5 and 6. Further I should like to express my deepest thanks to all those persons who have contributed important material. Some have gone to great trouble to describe local plant protection practices on paper or to compile their information, namely Blauw W., Burgess M., ILEIA, Peries L., Rankin J., and many others. This book has gained greatly in quality due to their help and co-operation. Last, but not least, I want to heartily thank Jürgen Trautner who did a huge job on the key words and Katrin Geigenmüller who completed the make up of this book with untiring energy. Many thanks also to my colleagues at the Centre for Appropriate Technology who were so considerate and helpful during the final steps of the manuscript. Thanks for the fantastic teamwork! Langenbruck, January 1987 Gaby Stoll 4 FOREWORD Three years experience at AGRECOL (1983-86) have shown that fre­ quently at the crucial moment the practitioner has no access to the most recent results of agrarian research or the treasures of Univer­ sity libraries. On the other hand, the most valuable experiences of farmers based on decades of observation are seldom written down. This book attempts at least partially, to overcome these obstacles to information flow, and to present a specific subject of our scope in a simple and understandable, although by no means complete, way. The intention is to make existing knowledge more easily accessible and to present it in a form which encourages farmers to make their own trials and to experiment further so as to widen our knowledge. This is a typical exercise in transmission for an information and contact centre like AGRECOL. We express our hopes that this book - end of 1988 edited in French, Spanish, German, Thai, and English (3rd edition) - may fulfil its task as a useful guide for the practitioner and send it on its way with every good wish - a way that calls for a permanent improve­ ment, deepening and fulfilment. We extend great thanks to Gaby Stoll who, after working at AGR­ ECOL, studied this subject deeply and with great engagement. From many and widely scattered sources she collected the material and ultimately presented them in this book. The finances were contributed by individuals and institutions with whom we maintain friendly co-operation. Without their open ears our endeavour could not have been carried out: Mr. Gunnar Videgard, Grasse, France AGKED: Association of the Churches Development Services, FR Ger­ many 5 AGRICO: Producer-Consumer Cooperative for Biological Horticulture, Basel, Switzerland CTA, Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Co-operation, Ede-Wageningen, Netherlands, supported the French trans­ lation. IFOAM: International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements MISEREOR: Catholic Church Aid, FR Germany PROJECT-CONSULT: Frankfurt, FR Germany (due to an information exchange) Protestant Church Congregation, Schwanden GL, Switzerland John Coates, a friend of the Centre for Appropriate Technology in Langenbruck, who often worked with us - either with shovel or typewriter - has dedicated himself with great personal engagement to the translation of the German manuscript into English. Georges Bray did the same for the French translation and Mrs. Irene Steiner and Mrs. Milda Jelenis of F.U.N.A.M., Argentina, for the Spanish translation. The author Gaby Stoll, actually working in Thailand, just recently sent us the first copy of the book in Thai language. Thanks to all of them! Langenbruck, December 1988 Matthias Zimmermann Director AGRECOL 6 I. INTRODUCTION 7 This book wishes to offer a contribution to the reflections about crop protection and the agri-"culture" connected with it. Sugges­ tions for appropriate solutions to pest management problems are pointed out. Having in mind the political and economic background of the crop protection problem one can notice that there is a need to look for long lasting and reliant solutions for the agricultural practice, solutions that respect the requirements of man and envi­ ronment. Natural methods of plant protection have assumed a new impor­ tance in an age when a host of commercial products is available which seems to offer an easy answer to the problems of fighting pests and diseases. However, these have neither solved the purely agricultural problems of the small farmer, nor have they improved his financial situation. On the contrary, they have resulted in a series of consequences which politically, economically, ecologically and socially are self-defeating. The aid programmes of the international development organisa­ tions are often based on western technology. The instruments of this "high-input-agriculture" such as extension services, credits to small farmers for seeds, fertilizers, pesticides etc. tend to ignore and erode inherited experience and traditional systems. The fast and radical destruction of "traditionally-developed-agriculture" has considerably worsened the economic and social security of small farmers. The problem of crop protection is aggravated by the policy of companies who profit from the fact that their products cannot solve the actual problems of the small farmers. Nature herself has offered us a profusion of plants for use in crop protection; a potential which deserves our interest. In natu­ ral crop protection we are applying nature's own instruments. Even though they seem to belong to another age, they can still to­ day contribute to an appropriate pest management the more as they are minimizing the risks for farmer, consumer and the environ­ ment. Furthermore, scientific investigation can do much to improve their applicability and effectiveness, thus modernizing their use. 8 It is hoped this book will make a contribution to this aim and motivate people to work for the rediscovery and further develop­ ment of a natural and more independant crop protection and to strengthen the belief in our powers of observation and judgement. It is we who decide how we exploit and treasure the vast variety of resources which are locally availabe at all places. Langenbruck and Hohberg January 1987 Gaby Stoll Dipl.-Agrobiologist 9 II. HOW TO USE THIS BOOK This is a practical guide to inform farmers, advisers, experts of development agencies and scientists about the protection of crops in field and store with natural resources. It is based on simple technology which can be practised by the farmer himself. It deals mainly with the steps to be taken after an infestation has occurred. Preventive measures are considered as at least equally important. But in this book they are touched on only briefly. STRUCTURE The structure of this book derives from the situation that a farmer encounters an infestation in a specific crop in his field. In chapter IV some important pests are presented. The choice for the pests described depended on the availability of natural control measures and was restricted to food plants. For these pests the life-cycles and habits are detailed in order to allow control measures to be understood more comprehensive. The control measures recommended for each pest fall into two categories: * Preventive measures These are dealt with in chapter III and are especially described with reference to specific pests. * Curative measures These are described in chapter V and practical details given. All methods of control which are described in chapter V receive a reference to the respective page.