CASE STUDY

Integrated pest management in Indonesia

In the mid-1970s in Indonesia, the rice-eating brown planthopper, a pest that supposedly had been eradicated by pesticides, began to attack improved rice crops that were considered pest-resistant. Seventy percent of Java’s rice crop was lost in one year. Scientific investigation indicated that pesticide use had initially destroyed the pests but had also destroyed their natural predators.

In 1986, the Indonesian government reduced pesticide subsidies and began to promote integrated pest management (IPM) to control pests using environmentally safe biological methods. These methods included advanced cropping methods, use of local varieties of rice, and minimum applications of pesticide. In 1989, the government withdrew the subsidies entirely. Since 1986, farmers trained in IPM reduced pesticide applications from 4.5 times to 0.5 times per season and rice yields increased. Furthermore, the country has saved more than $100 million per year on pesticide imports.