Pest control practices and pesticide perceptions of vegetable farmers in Loo Valley, Benguet, Philippines

• Main Author: Medina, Charito P.
• Format: text
• Published: Animo Repository 1983
• Subjects: Agriculture; Environmental Sciences
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/faculty_research/11706
• Institution: De La Salle University

Benguet province, in the Cordillera Mountains in northern Philippines, is very rugged with elevations ranging from 1.600 to over 2,300 m. The high altitude results in a mean annual temperature of 18°C, 9°C lower than the country as a whole, making the area highly favorable for vegetable growing, particularly semi-temperate and temperate vegetables. Some farmers recalled that they used to remove 'worms' from plants by hand-picking. They also reported using plant decoctions to control insect pests, e.g. avocado leaves for ants, sunflower for diamond-back moth and also tobacco and hot pepper decoctions. With the exception of detergents, which are sometimes sprayed to control leeches, such methods are rarely practiced. Information on pesticides comes mainly from chemical company fieldmen who organize 'Farmers' Vegetable Seminars" through the extension personnel of the Ministry of Agriculture and the head of the local administrative unit. Farmers tend to spray the same very wide range of pesticides on all their crops.