Agricultural Development and Vector-Borne Diseases (FAO - HABITAT - UNEP - WHO, 1996, 91 p.) Topic J: Plant protection, pest control and chemical inputs List of slides J.1 Spraying rice for pest control, Lao People’s Republic J.2 Spraying rice for pest control, Lao People’s Republic J.3 Spraying rice for pest control, People’s Republic of China J.4 Spraying rice for pest control, People’s Republic of China J.5 Pest control and fertilizer spraying J.6 Broadcasting fertilizer in paddy fields, Tamil Nadu, India J.7 Traps for tsetse fly (human sleeping sickness, cattle nagana) control, Burkina Faso J.8 Chemical control of tsetse flies, Burkina Faso J.9 Chemical control of tsetse flies, Burkina Faso J.10 Azolla use in rice fields, as joint weed control/fertilizer, Tamil Nadu, India J.11 Azolla use in rice fields, as joint weed control/fertilizer, Tamil Nadu, India J.12 Close up of Azolla J.13 Laboratory studies: effect of Azolla coverage on anopheline mosquitoes J.14 Laboratory studies: effect of Azolla coverage on culicine mosquitoes J.15 Dragonfly on sugar cane, Tamil Nadu, India J.16 Gambusia for rice field mosquito control, Afghanistan J.17 Focal application of Bayluscide® in an irrigation canal, Egypt J.18 Fish kill by Bayluscide®, Egypt J.19 Mechanical weed clearance of canals J.20 The Chinese grass carp J.21 Lined canal with fast water flow, Zimbabwe J.22 Drying out of canals J.23 Control of Rhombomys colonies in the former USSR (now Uzbekistan) J.24 Alternate wetting and drying in Chinese rice irrigation J.25 Vector larvae populations in conventionally irrigated rice fields versus those with alternate wetting and drying J.26 Effect of alternate wetting and drying on the rice yield J.27 The International Code of Conduct

Agricultural Development and Vector-Borne Diseases (FAO - HABITAT - UNEP - WHO, 1996, 91 p.)

Topic J: Plant protection, pest control and chemical inputs

List of slides

J.1 Spraying rice for pest control, Lao People’s Republic

J.2 Spraying rice for pest control, Lao People’s Republic

J.3 Spraying rice for pest control, People’s Republic of China

J.4 Spraying rice for pest control, People’s Republic of China

J.5 Pest control and fertilizer spraying

J.6 Broadcasting fertilizer in paddy fields, Tamil Nadu, India

J.7 Traps for tsetse fly (human sleeping sickness, cattle nagana) control, Burkina Faso

J.8 Chemical control of tsetse flies, Burkina Faso

J.9 Chemical control of tsetse flies, Burkina Faso

J.10 Azolla use in rice fields, as joint weed control/fertilizer, Tamil Nadu, India

J.11 Azolla use in rice fields, as joint weed control/fertilizer, Tamil Nadu, India

J.12 Close up of Azolla

J.13 Laboratory studies: effect of Azolla coverage on anopheline mosquitoes

J.14 Laboratory studies: effect of Azolla coverage on culicine mosquitoes

J.15 Dragonfly on sugar cane, Tamil Nadu, India

J.16 Gambusia for rice field mosquito control, Afghanistan

J.17 Focal application of Bayluscide® in an irrigation canal, Egypt

J.18 Fish kill by Bayluscide®, Egypt

J.19 Mechanical weed clearance of canals

J.20 The Chinese grass carp

J.21 Lined canal with fast water flow, Zimbabwe

J.22 Drying out of canals

J.23 Control of Rhombomys colonies in the former USSR (now Uzbekistan)

J.24 Alternate wetting and drying in Chinese rice irrigation

J.25 Vector larvae populations in conventionally irrigated rice fields versus those with alternate wetting and drying

J.26 Effect of alternate wetting and drying on the rice yield

J.27 The International Code of Conduct

Credit individual slides:

World Health Organization
J.13, J.14, J.16, J.17. J.18, J.19, J.20, J.21, J.22, J.23
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
J.1, J.2. J.3, J.4, J.5, J.7, J.8, J.9, J.12, J.13, J.14, J.27
Robert Bos, Geneva
J.6, J.10, J.11, J.15
Agricultural University Wageningen, Netherlands
J.24, J.25, J.26

J.1 Spraying rice for pest control, Lao People’s Republic

Slide J.1 Spraying rice for pest control, Lao People’s Republic

J.2 Spraying rice for pest control, Lao People’s Republic

Slide J.2 Spraying rice for pest control, Lao People’s Republic

J.3 Spraying rice for pest control, People’s Republic of China

Slide J.3 Spraying rice for pest control, People’s Republic of China

J.4 Spraying rice for pest control, People’s Republic of China

Slide J.4 Spraying rice for pest control, People’s Republic of China

An essential operation in farming is the control of crop pests, whether weeds, fungi or insects. The first two slides show a common form of control using a liquid pesticide in manually operated knapsack sprayers on rice seedlings. The third slide shows the individual application of powdered pesticide on rice, and the fourth one a primitive application method unlikely to achieve the necessary regularity of distribution.

The use of agrochemicals carries immediate health risks (acute poisoning), long-term direct health risks (chronic illness due to accumulation of pesticide residues) and health risks related to the impact of applying pesticides in the open environment, reducing populations of predator fauna, as well as inducing insecticide resistance in vector populations.

The examples from Lao (J.1 and J.2) and China (J.3 and J.4) illustrate the immediate risks of insecticide applications. Studies by the International Rice Research Institute (Pingali et al.) have helped to quantify the chronic health effects in rice farmers.

The immediate and chronic effects of exposure are not only linked to insufficient precautions at the time of insecticide handling and application. The inadequate storage of insecticides is also an important health hazard.

Studies in Central America (Georghiou et al.) and Sri Lanka (Herath et al.) have demonstrated the strong selection pressures exerted by agricultural pesticides against mosquito vector populations. As a result, the effectiveness of public health campaigns for disease vector control was substantially diminished.

There is ample anecdotal information about the application of insecticides, originally destined for use in anti-malaria campaigns (house spraying), in agriculture. At the village level, black market practices may result in part of the compound being sold to farmers. As a result, the dosage of the insecticide applied for malaria control may be too low, which will accelerate the induction of resistance, and a substantial volume of insecticide (over and above what may be applied as agricultural pesticides already) puts an additional burden on the ecosystem.

References:

Georghiou, G.P., Breeland, S.G. and Ariaratnam, V., 1973. Seasonal escalation of organophosphorous and carbamate resistance in Anopheles albimanus by agricultural sprays. Environm. Entomology 2: 369-374

Herath, P.R.J., and Joshi, G.P., (1989). Pesticide selection pressure on Anopheles subpictus in Sri Lanka: comparison with two other Sri Lankan anophelines. Trans. Roy. Soc. Trap. Med. 83: 565-567

J.5 Pest control and fertilizer spraying

Slide J.5 Pest control and fertilizer spraying

J.6 Broadcasting fertilizer in paddy fields, Tamil Nadu, India

Slide J.6 Broadcasting fertilizer in paddy fields, Tamil Nadu, India

In industrialized countries combined mechanized pest control and fertilizer spraying provides the necessary efficiency in the agricultural production process. In less developed parts of the world (slide J.6 shows rice farmers in Tamil Nadu, near Madurai) fertilizer is applied by manual labour.

In this particular slide (J.6), the fertilizer that is being applied had been mixed with neem cake prior to the broadcasting. Neem is a botanical product with insecticidal properties. The seeds of the neem tree are pressed to obtain the oil, and the left-over pulp (neem cake) has been tested in a number of field trials for their possible effect on the populations of Culex tritaeniorhynchus. Product standardization remains a problem without purification and characterization of the active ingredient Joint studies by the Centre for Research in Medical Entomology and the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, both in Madurai, India, nevertheless demonstrated its effectiveness in irrigated rice fields in reducing vector populations at the very start of the irrigation cycle, but the vector density peak was only delayed and not eliminated, as the neem was broken down more rapidly than expected. As a beneficial side effect, there was a notable reduction of damage to the crop by the rice brown planthopper; on the negative side, there have been reports that neem has a detrimental impact on non-target organisms, including fish.

An attempt to combine neem with Azolla (see below) failed because the two turned out not to be compatible.

J.7 Traps for tsetse fly (human sleeping sickness, cattle nagana) control, Burkina Faso

Slide J.7 Traps for tsetse fly (human sleeping sickness, cattle nagana) control, Burkina Faso

J.8 Chemical control of tsetse flies, Burkina Faso

Slide J.8 Chemical control of tsetse flies, Burkina Faso

J.9 Chemical control of tsetse flies, Burkina Faso

Slide J.9 Chemical control of tsetse flies, Burkina Faso

Currently, the mainstay of the control of tsetse flies, vectors of trypanosomiasis (causing sleeping sickness in humans and nagana in cattle) is the use of traps (slide J.7). Previously, the application of insecticides and bush clearance were more important methods of control. Selective or partial bush clearance involves the removal of specific shade trees or undergrowth and the creation of clearings which the fly cannot cross, 0.5 to 4 km often proving an effective barrier. In affected areas, rural settlements and agricultural production are greatly dependent on tsetse control measures. Tsetse populations are often reduced by agricultural development, due to vegetation clearing, but sleeping sickness remains a problem where people venture into wooded areas nearby.

J.10 Azolla use in rice fields, as joint weed control/fertilizer, Tamil Nadu, India

Slide J.10 Azolla use in rice fields, as joint weed control/fertilizer, Tamil Nadu, India

J.11 Azolla use in rice fields, as joint weed control/fertilizer, Tamil Nadu, India

Slide J.11 Azolla use in rice fields, as joint weed control/fertilizer, Tamil Nadu, India

J.12 Close up of Azolla

Slide J.12 Close up of Azolla

Azolla is an aquatic, floating fern that lives in symbiotic association with a blue alga, Anabaena azollae. It fixes nitrogen from the atmosphere and has therefore been promoted as cheap alternative for certain chemical fertilizers in irrigated rice fields. Farmers introduce Azolla into the rice fields, let it expand in rice fields, and at the end of the cropping cycle work the Azolla cover into the soil. An added advantage of Azolla is that it reduces weed growth. Still, Azolla has not lived up to its initial promise. Once large stretches of rice fields were covered with it, it turned out to be sensitive to its own specific pests. Also, farmers found that working the Azolla into the soil required considerably more effort than the application of chemical fertilizers, which in any case it could not entirely replace. The possibility of using Azolla as a method of controlling rice field bleeding mosquito vectors caught the attention of medical entomologists and was the subject of studies by Lu Bao Lin in China and F.P. Amerasinghe in Sri Lanka.

Reference:

Lu Bao Lin, 1988. Environmental management for the control of ricefield-breeding mosquitoes in China. In: Vector-borne disease control in humans through rice agro-ecosystem management. International Rice Research Institute, Los Baņos, Philippines

J.13 Laboratory studies: effect of Azolla coverage on anopheline mosquitoes

Slide J.13 Laboratory studies: effect of Azolla coverage on anopheline mosquitoes

J.14 Laboratory studies: effect of Azolla coverage on culicine mosquitoes

Slide J.14 Laboratory studies: effect of Azolla coverage on culicine mosquitoes

Laboratory studies in China on the effect of Azolla coverage on mosquito oviposition and emergence showed that culicine mosquitoes can not lay there eggs at all in water that is completely covered with the fern. Under the same conditions, anophelines are not hampered in their oviposition, but larval development is retarded and successful emergence of the adult mosquito from the pupa is blocked.

Subsequent emergence studies in experimental rice fields showed that these observations have little practical value in real life conditions. The process of expanding the coverage of Azolla trails behind the vector breeding peak, and even starting of with a 70% coverage (which farmers are unlikely to apply), the coverage is never complete and sufficient surface water remains for mosquito population densities to build up.

J.15 Dragonfly on sugar cane, Tamil Nadu, India

Slide J.15 Dragonfly on sugar cane, Tamil Nadu, India

FAO’s promotional efforts in the field of plant protection have led to the wide spread adoption of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) methods. In particular, the FAO Regional Rice IPM programme in South East Asia has been successful.

IPM aims to maintain an ecological balance in agricultural production systems as long as possible, with clear decision making criteria for farmers to switch to chemical control when crop damage is expected to pass an established economic threshold.

Predators, such as the dragonfly shown here on sugar cane, and parasites play a crucial role in keeping pest populations under control. Excessive applications of pesticide will have adverse effects on the medium term because the predator populations will take longer to restore than the populations of pest species.

The interface of IPM and Integrated Vector Control (IVC) in agro-ecosystems has been insufficiently explored and should be the subject of further research.

J.16 Gambusia for rice field mosquito control, Afghanistan

Slide J.16 Gambusia for rice field mosquito control, Afghanistan

Gambusia is the most widely applied genus of larvivorous fish and can contribute importantly to keeping mosquito populations down. It is used in both rural and urban settings, and particularly effective in small water bodies.

J.17 Focal application of Bayluscide® in an irrigation canal, Egypt

Slide J.17 Focal application of Bayluscide® in an irrigation canal, Egypt

Studies of snail distribution and human water contact patterns show that in most irrigation schemes transmission is focal rather than widespread. Consequently, chemical and manpower can be saved if snail control is effected at these transmission sites.

In Sudan this is done by applying one kilogram of Bayluscide® as 70% wettable powder mixed with 10 liters of water over a period of 40 minutes. The concentration achieved is 2-3 ppm of the active ingredient This application is done about 300 meters upstream from the village and will keep the target reach of the canal (i.e. the potential transmission sites at the village) free from snails for about 4-6 weeks, when the next application is carried out

J.18 Fish kill by Bayluscide®, Egypt

Slide J.18 Fish kill by Bayluscide®, Egypt

Molluscicides can be biocidal at concentrations used to eliminate snail colonies, killing fish and amphibians. Often, dead fish are collected for consumption. Immediate harmful effects have not been reported, but the long term effects on human health of regular consumption of fish killed by these chemicals are not known.

J.19 Mechanical weed clearance of canals

Slide J.19 Mechanical weed clearance of canals

J.20 The Chinese grass carp

Slide J.20 The Chinese grass carp

Regular weed clearance of canals will help reduce snail populations, but by itself is not sufficient to eliminate transmission. In irrigation canals weed clearance must be done to maintain water supply. Manual clearance may expose workers to the risk of schistosomiasis transmission. Mechanical clearance is only feasible economically as part of irrigation Canal maintenance, and not for the exclusive purpose of snail control. Herbivorous fish, such as the Chinese grass carp shown, have also been used in the battle against aquatic weeds.

J.21 Lined canal with fast water flow, Zimbabwe

Slide J.21 Lined canal with fast water flow, Zimbabwe

J.22 Drying out of canals

Slide J.22 Drying out of canals

Concrete lining of canals (slide J.21, Hippo Valley Estate, a sugar estate in southern Zimbabwe) contributes to controlling snail populations, because higher flow speeds can be maintained and weed growth is minimized. Concrete lining also reduces seepage and the creation of pools where mosquitoes can breed. Observations have been made in studies in Pakistan that with time seepage re-occurs as cracks form in the lining; pools are, however, fewer in number and more clustered.

During the periods that irrigation water is not needed, canals can be left to dry: snail populations will diminish and aquatic weeds can be eliminated. In some parts of the world, small pools that may remain when canals are dried may be attractive breeding places for mosquito vectors (notably Anopheles culicifacies in Sri Lanka).

J.23 Control of Rhombomys colonies in the former USSR (now Uzbekistan)

Slide J.23 Control of Rhombomys colonies in the former USSR (now Uzbekistan)

Colonial desert rodents create ideal habitats for sandflies in their relatively cool, moist burrows, across the entire Old World arid belt, from the northern edge of the Sahara to Mongolia and northern India. The animals also serve as a reservoir host to the Leishmania parasite. Agricultural development affects the sandflies in two main ways. Deep ploughing, shown in this slide, and other land disturbances eliminate Rhombomys and Psammomys species, two main reservoirs of cutaneous leishmaniasis, but often encourage Meriones species to increase in numbers. A second effect comes with changes in the water tables: depending on the location and vector species involved, either raising or lowering water tables may favour the breeding of sandflies. In the environmental impact assessment of the Flood Action Plan in Bangladesh, the possibility of increased risks of leishmaniasis transmission were distinctly identified in relation to a lower water table.

Reference:

Birley, M.H., 1993. An historical review of malaria, kala-azar and filariasis in Bangladesh in relation to the Flood Action Plan. Ann. Trop. Med. Paras. 87, 4: 319-334

J.24 Alternate wetting and drying in Chinese rice irrigation

Slide J.24 Alternate wetting and drying in Chinese rice irrigation

J.25 Vector larvae populations in conventionally irrigated rice fields versus those with alternate wetting and drying

Slide J.25 Vector larvae populations in conventionally irrigated rice fields versus those with alternate wetting and drying

J.26 Effect of alternate wetting and drying on the rice yield

Slide J.26 Effect of alternate wetting and drying on the rice yield

Studies in China by Lu Bao Lin have demonstrated the effectiveness, under local conditions, of alternate wetting and drying of rice fields as opposed to permanently flooded fields, in controlling populations of Anopheles sinensis. Agronomic studies, run in parallel, showed a greater yield in the fields subject to the wetting and drying regime.

This approach, formerly incorrectly referred to as intermittent irrigation (a term which refers to the periodicity of the water influx into the system, but does not describe the actual water status in the fields) may be successful under specific conditions, but a first condition is the availability of sufficient water to irrigate the drained fields in time. Farmer communities are particularly sensitive to this issue and would strongly object to draining their fields without a guarantee of water availability. In areas with water scarcity, because of droughts, because of stretching the area under irrigation beyond capacity or both, a water management regime similar to alternate wetting and drying can be easily imposed. The impact of such a regime on Japanese encephalitis vector populations was tested in South India and proved very effective in reducing densities.

J.27 The International Code of Conduct

Slide J.27 The International Code of Conduct

The International Code of Conduct on the Distribution and Use of Pesticides was developed by FAO in consultation with appropriate UN agencies and other organizations. The objectives of the code are to set forth responsibilities and establish voluntary standards of conduct for all public and private entities engaged in or affecting the distribution and use of pesticides, particularly where there is no or an inadequate national legislation to regulate pesticides. It focuses on the management, testing, regulation, distribution, trade, labeling, packaging, storage and disposal of pesticides. The Code of Conduct can be obtained from FAO, Via delle Terme di Caracalla, 00100 Rome, Italy.

The International Programme on Chemical Safety (IPCS, an interagency programme which is based at WHO, Geneva) addresses issues of safe use of pesticides, with special reference to pesticides used for public health purposes (insect and rodent control).