On July 20, 2020, IDEP facilitated an Online Training titled Integrated Pest Management (IPM). The training was hosted by WVI Manggarai with participants from the farmers association members they assisted. There are at least about 25 participants registered online in this training.

The training is divided into several sessions. The first session was an introduction to the trainer, a technical presentation on the use of Zoom as an intermediary tool for training, and a presentation on the activity agenda.

The second session was filled with material exposure from Sri Mahayuni’s trainer, familiarly called Sayu, related to integrated pest control consisting of 4 stages, namely: scientific control / manual control (picked when signs appear), analyzing the economic threshold and the level of economic damage (TKE) , supervision and understanding of plant biology & ecology (natural enemies and pests).

Through the permaculture approach, the trainer emphasizes the importance of sharing with nature. An example is not intervening if the TKE value does not reach 30%. IPM is a common practice before planting, including by analyzing land (soil pH, fertility, etc.), vegetation, and local market demand. Besides, knowing and understanding the situation and condition of the land is also important to know the difference between whether the plant is affected by disease or affected by pests or even because the soil is less fertile as a result of malnutrition.

The third session was a question and answer session with the participants regarding what obstacles they faced regarding pests and plant diseases. From the questions raised there were interesting things, the participants felt that chemical (synthetic) pesticides were no longer able to eradicate pests. To overcome this problem, the trainer suggests to gradually reduce the use of chemical pesticides and replace them with natural pesticides. The steps to make natural fungicides and pesticides are then shown through a short video.

Question and Answer sessions (Doc: IDEP)

In this training the participants said that the material presented was very useful and very practical in nature and could be applied in their respective regions because the material was already available. The trainer then said that it was very important to plan before planting. Besides, understanding land and plants before carrying out interventions on pests or diseases is no less important.

Discover the types of training organized by the IDEP Selaras Alam Foundation through the link www.ideptraining.com or via email info@idepfoundation.org. (Fitra)