Integrated Pest Management for Greenhouse Production in the Dominican Republic

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Elizabeth Church traveled to the Dominican Republic to work with greenhouse technicians to implement integrated pest management and biological controls (IPM). The overall goal of this project was to increase the resilience to changing weather patterns of greenhouse technicians in the Jarabacoa region by helping them implement IPM systems. Biological controls can minimize pesticide use and improve overall sustainability of the operation.

Many of the crops in the greenhouses have been negatively affected by various pests and diseases. Reoccurring problems that were observed by Elisabeth include whitefly on the tomatoes, Diptera larvae pests and thrips damage in peppers, and fusarium and charred rice hull in cucumbers. Elizabeth found that none of the greenhouses were ready for biological control implementation and estimated that the greenhouses need 1-2 more years of proper IPM practices in place before successful biological controls can be implemented.



Elizabeth had the opportunity to meet with Ramon Jimenez of the Ministry of Agriculture to discuss possible options for IPM implementation within the next five years and ways to share these practices with greenhouse producers during that time frame. Elizabeth greatly appreciated meeting with Mr. Jimenez because he is extremely knowledgeable about the greenhouse operations and was willing to integrate IPM discussions into the meetings he holds every two weeks with the farmers. He estimated that only around 15-25% of greenhouse growers in the Dominican Republic are using biological controls and admits that theres a need for better pest management practices. Elizabeth ended her assignment by visiting seven greenhouses and left recommendations for technicians when implementing IPM practices in the coming years.

Elizabeth is confident that the 5-year plan that she collaborated has great potential. She admits that there will be farmers that will struggle, or be unwilling to change their current farming practices, but she is hopeful that the information that she provided will positively impact some of the greenhouses.





Comments

  1. UnknownThursday, December 13, 2018

    Are any of these pests from poor soil health? If so how do rejuvenate the soil to prevent future outbreaks?

    ReplyDelete

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