Integrated Pest Management or IPM plays a vital role in the future of agriculture in ASEAN countries. The key to increasing production and improving food security in the region is the ability of farmers to select, adapt and apply technologies which are productive, profitable and sustainable.

Research and practice have proven that farmers can conserve biodiversity, increase yields, and make higher profit by using pesticides more judiciously. Restricting pesticide applications conserve natural enemies which provide effective biological control in the majority of fields.

Farmer must be able to monitor the plant/pest ecology of their crops and make decisions which are specific to their own fields. Experience has shown that these decisions cannot be packaged as part of extension messages. Instead, farmers must learn the underlying principles in IPM and make the decisions for themselves.

Confidence in IPM for improving yields and reducing costs on a large scale resulted in important changes in national crop protection policy in ASEAN countries. Today, most have established its own national IPM program. IPM is now practiced by over 1.0 million farmers in the region.

IPM is the only large scale example of farmers empowered to use knowledge-intensive technologies and to continue adapting such technologies to changing environmental and economic conditions. IPM a is proven alternative to the overuse of agricultural chemicals and to the acute and chronic poisoning affecting millions of farmers.

Towards A Common Vision of IPM in ASEAN

The national IPM programs in ASEAN adhere to common vision of IPM:

IPM IS AN ECOLOGICAL APPROACH
where agriculture is a complex, living system in which farmers interact with land, water, plants and other organism in an attempt to optimize their existing resources. IPM promotes sustainability by helping farmers apply ecological principles in the cultivation of their fields while learning to optimize the use of resources through management of the ecosystem.

IPM IS A HUMAN RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT
where training helps farmers learn how to collect and analyze data, make their own decisions, organize themselves and their communities, and create a working network with other farmers, extension workers and researchers. Farmers become expert and active, independent, compentent "subject" within agricultural development. Farmers determine their own needs and create solutions and practices appropriate to their specific local conditions.

The development of this common vision has been greatly assisted when farmers, field extension worker, scientist, and policy makers from different countries are able to learn from each other's experiences. Moreover, the potential benefit by transfering knowledge and skills from country to country within ASEAN region has not been exhausted; while some national IPM programs are growing vigorously, others have only recently germinated.

International research institions, within ASEAN and outside the region, have been actively supporting IPM through research, training courses and policy consultations. These include the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), the International Institute of Biological Control (IIBC), the Asian Vegetable Research and Development Center (AVRDC), International Center for the Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), and International Center for the Improvement of Maize and Wheat(CIMMYT). There is a continued need for national IPM program in the ASEAN region to link with these institutions in order to seek improved IPM concepts and practices as well as solutions to field problems affecting the implementation of their national IPM programs.

The ASEAN IPM Knowledge Network is a response to needs and the growing knowledge demands made by national IPM programs in the ASEAN region. As a joint endeavor of ASEAN countries, the ASEAN IPM Knowledge Network seeks to be knowledge communicator of IPM for national IPM programs in the ASEAN Region.

Building on Success

The ASEAN IPM Knowledge Network
The ASEAN IPM Knowledge Network or ASEAN IPM is an initiative to accumulate the vast collection of knowledge capital on IPM that can be reused and shared by national IPM programs inthe ASEAN region. To do this, the ASEAN IPM has established an electronic IPM Knowledge Management Facility or ASEAN IPM which ensures that IPM knowledge capital is available at the point of need of program implementors and policy makers.

The ASEAN IPM is an electronic, Internet-like, wide-area network composed of each membe country, and has its center or hub in the Philippines. Knowledge bases, designed to house packets of IPM knowledge capital, are created and stored in one or more database server in each country location and sent to the Knowledge Center. To maintain data consistensy, the Center regularly updates each country knowledge base through CD-ROM, internet or dial-up connections; thereby improving accessibility at each point. Email is also a salient feature of the ASEAN IPM, as well as a gateway to the Internet.

The ASEAN IPM Center acts as the Database and Network Administrator that formulates and implements regional standards and opearates an electronic, as well as physical library to house all IPM reference materials.

The Mission of ASEAN IPM

To help national government and non-government organizations in ASEAN improve the effectiveness of program implementation by making knowledge sharing easy among national IPM programs and ensuring that information held is accurate, relevant and up to date.

The Function of ASEAN IPM

The ASEAN IPM Knowledge Network:
The gathering and updating of available IPM practices (technology, applications, methodology, training materials, etc) and experiences (documented and undocumented observations, impressions, success stories, etc) from national IPM programs, research institutions within the ASEAN region, as well as those outside of the region (international research institutions); and the synthesis of these information to create knowledge capital appropriate for a specific country.

PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT SUPPORT:
The packaging and reuse of knowledge capital for the purpose of training methodology and curriculum development; program management and implementation; policy development and advocacy; project preparation and evaluation.

PROGRAM CLIENTELE SERVICES:
The provision of assistance on reference library orders; technical document and information search; document and file conversion; facility access authorization and design modication; communication and training