Research in high value crop

FPR in High Value Crops report Vietnam 2003 B U I L D I N G D I S E A S E M A N A G E M E N T C A P A C I T Y I N V I E T N A M 4 PR O G R E S S RE P O R T Farmer Participatory Research in High Value[.]

4 P R O G R E S S R E P O R T

Farmer Participatory Research

in High Value Crops

Written by Paul Van Mele

Table of contents

1 Sum m ary 3

2 A b b reviations 5

3 W ork sh op O utput 6

3.1 Path ogen Identification 6

3.2 Field D iagnostics 8

3.3 Farm er Participatory R esearch on D isease Managem ent 10

3.3.1 Creating th e FPR fram ew ork 10

3.3.2 Learn to report, report to learn 13

3.3.3 Prob lem identification 15

3.3.4 Group form ation 15

3.3.5 D e ciding on th e treatm ent 16

3.3.6 Th e nitty-gritty of designing FPR experim ents 17

3.3.7 D ata collection 18

3.3.8 D ata analysis 19

3.3.9 Evaluating results 19

3.4 Evaluation of FPR w ork sh op 19

4 Project activities sch edule for July-D e cem ber 2003 22

A nnex 1 W ork sh op A genda 23

A nnex 2 W ork sh op Participants 24

1 Summary

Th is report sum m arizes th e activities and discussions h eld w ith all th e partners of th e

A CIA R -funded project ‘D e veloping D isease Managem ent Capacity in Vietnam ’ A fteridentifying th e m ajor gaps in term s of diagnostics and m anagem ent of m ajor diseases,

Farm er Participatory R esearch approach es (often k now n in Vietnam as Participatory

A ction R esearch (PA R ), or ‘Mak ing Farm ers R esearch ers’w h en translated back literally

from Vietnam ese) w ere introduced by Dr Paul Van Mele from CA BI Bioscience during

tw o 2-day w ork sh ops betw een June 9th and June 24th, 2003

Path ogen identification issues w ere discussed during th e w ork sh op and each group leader

h as th e responsib ility to seriously look into th e suggestions m ade by Dr Eric Boa in h issum m ary report on th e surveys D r Paul Ferrar from A CIA R h as fully ack now ledged th e

im portance of th is report for directing future actions in th is and oth er projects Each groupleader w ill m eet w ith th eir partner institutes to finalise th e list of sym ptom s for w h ich

m ore sam ple collection and identification is re q uired Th is list w ill be send to D rs Eric Boa(CA BI) and R oger Sh ivas (Q D PI) for th eir com m ents before th e end of June, 2003 D rs

R oger Sh ivas and Tony Cook e w ill visit Vietnam from July 27 to A ugust 9 to assist inidentifying th ese undiagnosed sym ptom s

Partner institutions re-em ph asized th at m ore support is needed for training m aster trainers

in field diagnosis Th is w ill be dealt w ith in Septem ber b y D rs Eric Boa and Paul VanMele A t th e sam e tim e, th e developm ent of an Excell D atab ase of h igh quality digital

ph otograph s of sym ptom s availab le at each institute sh ould receive h igh priority Groupleaders to coordinate th is activity and present list by th e end of July, 2003 to project leader

Th is w ill assist us in m ak ing th e Field D iagnosis training m anual fully adjusted to exam ples

b ased on th e Vietnam ese context and h ence easier to apply w h en training PPSD and

farm ers during our next training on Field D iagnosis from Septem ber 15 to O ctober 5th

D uring th e first w eek , w e w ill focus on ‘finalizing’th e m anual

Farm er Participatory R esearch m eth ods w ere introduced and activities planned on m ajorfungal, b acterial and viral diseases A n overview of planned FPR activities in collaboration

w ith provincial PPSD s is given in th e next tab le In th e South , FPR activities on m ango arebeing link ed to a farm er cooperative, recently estab lish ed by th e A usA id CA R D project

‘Im proving th e perform ance of th e fruit industry in Tien Giang and Tra Vinh provinces’,and th e Song H au state farm at Can Th o, uniting m ore th an 1000 farm ers grow ing 150,000

m ango trees

Th is CA R D project h as b rough t farm ers for th e first tim e in Vietnam ese h istory in directcontact w ith retailers to develop a quality grading system Link ing th is project to our

A CIA R project w as perceived as a unique opportunity to h ave cooperative farm ers w ork

w ith scientists and PPSD tow ards ach ieving im proved quality standards and explore th epotential for creating innovative financing m ech anism s for service provision Extra incom e

th rough im proved fruit quality and stronger negotiation pow er could be reinvested infarm er training in one w ay or th e oth er, and h ence create an exam ple of h ow financial

H au state farm h ave already verb ally m entioned w illingness to pay for services w h ich h elp

th em to tack le serious prob lem s

O verview of planned FPR activities in collab oration w ith provincial PPSD s

I NSTITUTE C ROP D ISEASE P ROVINCE C OMMENTS

NIPP Longan Flower rot, anthracnose

(fungus) Hung Yen Both Anthracnose and Peronophythora occur on flowers Are

these symptoms distinct?

Thai Nguyen Group learning will be compared

between NIPP, TNU and HAU.

Different treatments and approaches may be used depending on local preferences.

PPD-PQ Pineapple Phytophthora heart rot

(fungus)

Pineapple wilt (virus)

Bac Giang Red wilt or red blight may be caused

by stress, mealybugs or

Phytophthora, so it is too early to

conduct FPR on this problem After the workshop we conducted a field sampling trip and confirmed the wilt- associated virus transmitted by mealybugs If possible also this disease will be covered in FPR SOFRI Pineapple Phytophthora heart rot

(fungus)

Can Tho Dong Nai Tien Giang

Cantho Extension Centre SEFRC-SOFRI in SE Vietnam SOFRI

Mango Anthracnose (fungal) Can Tho

Tien Giang

All mango FPR experiments in Can Tho will be a collaborative effort of SOFRI and CTU

Mango FPR activities in Tien Giang will link to on-going CARD project and include PHTI

Mango Black spot (bacterial) Can Tho

Tien Giang Tomato Bacterial wilt (Ralstonia

solanacearum)

Tien Giang

Dong Thap Mango Black spot (bacterial) Can Tho

Dong Thap

Song Hau state farm, samples to be collected asap for proper diagnosis

Ho Chi Minh City

2 Abbreviations

A CIA R A ustralian Centre for International A gricultural R esearch

CA R D Capacity-building for A gricultural R esearch and D e velopm ent (A usA id)

FFS Farm er Field Sch ools

FPR Farm er Participatory R esearch

H A U H anoi A gricultural University

IA S Institute of A gricultural Sciences

NIPP National Institute of Plant Protection

PA R Participatory A ction R esearch

PH TI Post H arvest Tech nology Institute [H CMC]

PPD Plant Protection D e partm ent

PPSD Plant Protection Sub -D e partm ents

PQ -North Plant Q uarantine [H anoi]

PQ -South Plant Q uarantine [H CMC]

Q D PI Q ueensland D e partm ent of Prim ary Industries

SEFR C South East Fruit R esearch Centre, link ed to SO FR I

SO FR I South ern Fruit R esearch Institute

3 Workshop Output

3.1 Path ogen Identification

Several capacity building training courses w ere conducted over th e past tw o years to

im prove th e diagnostic and identification sk ills of m ainly young scientists Tow ards th eend of th e second year of our project, I am very pleased to let you k now th at Ms Barb ara

R itch ie h as m ade a trem endous effort in collating all th e training m aterials from th e pastlab oratory diagnostic and post-h arvest training courses undertak en w ith in our project

Both th e resulting m anual 'Lab oratory Tech niques for Plant H ealth D iagnostics’ and all

Pow er Point Presentations from th ese courses w ere distributed to th e partner institutes as

an electronic copy, w h ich w as very w ell received by all Th is w ill enab le project partners

to use th ese m aterials to train oth ers, h ence increasing project im pact

A fter each partner institute presented th eir ach ievem ents of th e past 6 m onth s, th e need to better integrate availab le inform ation sources nationally and internationally w as

em ph asized A clear exam ple arose w h en participants in th e north presented th eir resultsfrom recent surveys R esults from th e Central Plant Q uarantine office for instance

reported th at in H a Tay province one of th e m ajor pineapple diseases w as h eart rot Mostpineapples grow n in H a Tay belong to th e Victoria variety In th e lab oratory tw o causal

agents w ere found, nam ely Ph ytoph th ora sp and Erw inia sp Th is resulted in a group

discussion to w h y it proved difficult to identify w h eth er th e m ajor cause w as fungal or

b acterial

D uring th is discussion I b row sed th e CA BI Crop Protection Com pendium (CPC) for

pineapple h eart rot and it reported th at th e pineapple Q ueen variety is resistant to Erw inia

(see text b ox).W e stressed th e im portance to use th is im portant resource before em b ark ing

on surveys and sam ple collection Copies of th e CABI Crop Protection Com pendium

2 nd edition w ere h anded out to each of th e institutes and w ere used during group w ork

for th e rem ainder of th e w ork sh op as resource m aterial

Excerpt from th e CA BI Crop Protection Com pendium :

“Th e causal bacterium , Erw inia ch rysanth em i, attack s th e [pineapple] fruit a few w eek s

before m aturity w h en it suddenly exudes copious fluid and bubbles of gas Th ere is noeffective direct control, b ut spraying h eptach lor on th e ground at th e tim e of

flow ering and 2 w eek s later controls th e ants w h ich spread th e bacteria D iseased fruitsneed to be rem oved and destroyed elsew h ere to reduce th e population of th e bacteria

in th e field Th e path ogen also causes b acterial heart rot w h en it infects th e tender

b ases of young leaves of 3-6-m onth -old plants Th e rot can cause serious losses and is

ch aracterized by its putrefying odour Th e Cayenne and Q ueen pineapple appear to

be resistant to th is b acterium In th e Ph ilippines and Th ailand, h eart rot is caused by

th e fungi Ph ytoph th ora cinnam om i and Ph ytoph th ora parasitica, respectively.”

Th e occurrence of Erw inia sp on Queen pineapple requires furth er investigation to

see w h eth er typical bacterial rot sym ptom s develop in th e field or not Eith er resistance h as

b rok en dow n, or Erw inia w as present, b ut did not cause th e sym ptom s Furth er field

studies sh ould be conducted in th e location w h ere th is sam ple w as collected, nam ely at th eSuoi H ai state farm , Ba Vi district, H a Tay province Equally im portant is to upgradeinform ation on disease status of different varieties w ith in international D atab ases, such as

th e CA BI Crop Protection Com pendium , as th is is an im portant decision-support tool forpolicy m ak ers and land-use planners

A new pineapple processing plant h as been estab lish ed in Bac Giang province, yet a lot of

th e pineapple provided by th e farm ers w as rejected because of poor processing quality.Most pineapple grow n in th e North is of th e relatively low yielding Q ueen variety

Cayenne is better for processing and if governm ent push es for a dram atic sh ift of varieties,new diseases are lik ely to be encountered Updating electronic datab ases lik e th e CPC arealso of utm ost im portance for screening pest and disease status w h en introducing newvarieties D uring th is visit, in both th e north and south sam ples w ere collected of pineapple

w ilt for identification at CA BI H igh ly lik ely it is a m ealybug transm itted virus

Th e follow ing overview of field sam ples tak en nation-w ide during th e surveys w ith in th eproject sh ow s th at 1 out of 3 of th e sam ples h ave not been com pletely identified and 1 in 6could not be identified A s th is refers to sam ples collected before actual lab oratory trainingcourses w ere given during th e project, it is anticipated th at th is situation h as im proved

TA BLE 1 Status of field sam ples tak en during project field surveys

T OTAL F IELD S AMPLES

on each of th ese crops (see first report b y D rs Eric Boa and Paul Van Mele), and w ith th eavailab ility of our A ustralian colleagues D rs R oger Sh ivas and Tony Cook e from Q D PI

h ave planned th eir next visit to Vietnam from July 27 to A ugust 4 and 9 , respectively Both

w ill start w ork ing in th e North (27 July –1 August, 2003);th e second w eek (4 - 9 A ugust)Tony w ill be w ork ing in th e South Litch i is currently being h arvested, w h ich b rings us to

th e follow ing crops to focus th e next disease sam pling on: for th e North : longan and

pineapple, and for th e South : pineapple, dragon fruit and som e vegetab les

ACTIO N: Lists of sam ples w h ich w ill be collected for furth er identification need to be

finalized by th e end of June, 2003 and send to D rs Eric Boa and R oger Sh ivas for

th eir com m ents.

3.2 Field D iagnostics

A s com m only reported in w orld literature, farm ers often confuse disease sym ptom s w ithinsect pest dam age H anoi A gricultural University presented a clear case w h ereby farm ersconfuse litch i leaf vein b orer dam age w ith a foliar disease and use fungicides to control it

H ence th e need for furth er developing th e Field D iagnostics course/m anual as initiated inFebruary 2003 b y D r Eric Boa w ith Ms Barb ara R itch ie Course m aterial consisting of

ph otos and pow er point presentations w ere provided to th e different partner institutions at

th e tim e of th e course Upon re q uest EB prepared som e back -up guidelines to enab le th epartners to m ak e better use of th ese training m aterials

A m onitoring and evaluation m ission h as been planned from Septem ber 15 to O ctober 5,

2003 D uring th is tim e also H ue w ill be visited to train staff from H ue AFU and PPSD

ACTIO N: Group leaders need to coordinate th e developm ent of an Excell D atab ase of

h igh quality digital ph otograph s of sym ptom s th at are already availab le at each

institute, and present list to D rs Paul Van Mele and Eric Boa by th e end of July, 2003.

Th is w ill assist us in fully adjusting th e Field D iagnosis training m anual to th e Vietnam esecontext and h ence m ak e it easier to use w h en training PPSD and farm ers A n exam ple of

th e form at to be used is given below

Th e im portance of field diagnosis is not just lim ited to rath er unk now n or uncom m ondiseases Even th e diagnosis of th e w ell-studied greening or h uanglongbin disease is prone

to confusion Th is is sh ow n by th e m ultitude of possib le causes resulting in sim ilar

sym ptom s (see text b ox CPC)

A s training people in field diagnosis re q uires th orough preparation, planning and practice,

w e look forw ard to your experiences and suggestions th at m ay arise w h en you are

conduction your ow n Field D iagnostics courses w ith PPSD staff in th e provinces

D r Eric Boa and m yself w ill be m onitoring th ese activities over th e com ing m onth s, asindicated in th e project activities sch edule given in Ch apter 4, and do an evaluation inSeptem ber Th e first w eek w e w ill look at adjusting th e m anual to th e Vietnam ese

conditions, incorporating local exam ples and ph otos

Excerpt from th e CA BI Crop Protection Com pendium :

“Th e first sym ptom of h uanglongbing is usually th e appearance of a yellow sh oot on

a tree, h ence th e nam e h uanglongb ing w h ich literally m eans yellow dragon disease.Progressive yellow ing of th e entire canopy follow s: leaves turn pale-yellow , sh ow

sym ptom s of zinc or m anganese deficiency, or display blotch y m ottling, and are

reduced in size Blotch y m ottle is th e m ost ch aracteristic sym ptom , but is not specific

to h uanglongb ing Stubborn disease [Spiroplasm a citri], severe form s of citrus tristezaclosterovirus (CTV), species of Ph ytoph th ora, w ater logging and th e use of m arcotscan produce sim ilar b lotch y m ottle patterns Sym ptom s of zinc deficiency are also

associated w ith th e early stages of citrus b ligh t (a disease of unconfirm ed aetiology)

H uanglongb ing b acteria, h ow ever, do not induce th e xylem dysfunction and w ilting

ob served in b ligh ted trees

Ch ronically infected trees are sparsely foliated and sh ow extensive tw ig dieback Th efruits are often sm all, lopsided and poorly coloured (h ence th e origin of th e nam e

greening) Th ey often contain aborted seeds Sim ilar fruit sym ptom s are also observed

w ith CTV infection.”

3.3 Farm er Participatory R esearch on D isease Managem ent

3.3.1 Creating th e FPR fram ew ork

A good exam ple to illustrate farm er em pow erm ent w as given by Prof H a Minh Trung H edescribed h ow in a previous A CIA R project a lack of scientific k now ledge ab out th e cause

of litch i sudden death lead to an approach of properly diagnosing th e underlying causes by

a team of national and Australian experts, follow ed by farm er training on th e principles ofdisease developm ent Th is resulted in farm ers experim enting by th em selves and innovating

to solve th eir ow n prob lem s (see text b ox)

Th e case study provides us w ith an excellent exam ple to illustrate one of th e basic

principles of em pow ering farm ers th rough proper diagnosis and stim ulating farm er

experim entation by injecting new inform ation on disease developm ent and spread A s w e

w ill see later on th is is not q uite th e sam e as farm er participatory research , alth ough b othapproach es can lead to farm er em pow erm ent O ften participatory training th rough th e use

of adult learning principles w ill trigger farm ers to explore new m anagem ent options

A case study by Prof H a Minh Trung:

Litch i sudden death typically occurs after h arvest w h en th e tree is exh austed

(July-A ugust) and w h en rains are m ost h eavy (up to 100 m m per day) Th is case provides aclear exam ple of soil-b orne path ogens for w h ich a range of path ogens and nem atodes

h ave been found From anoth er ACIA R project on soil-borne diseases w ith D r Lester

Burgess, Ph ytoph th ora specialists w ere invited as NIPP collab orators suspected

Ph ytoph th ora to be th e m ain cause Farm ers w ere inform ed h ow Fusarium m ainly

developed at th e tree colar and in cases w h ere trees are planted to deep in th e soil

Th ey w ere also inform ed ab out Ph ytoph th ora affecting m ainly th e deeper h air roots at

th e w ater tab le level, because of poor drainage A fter understanding th e principles ofdisease developm ent farm ers cam e up w ith th eir ow n solutions by digging up th e soil

from around th e tree base to allow air to reach th e tree colar In case Fusarium w as

spotted th ey treated th e trunk w ith fungicides (A lliette) Th ey also m ade extra

drainage canals in th eir field to reduce Ph ytoph th ora dam age and as th ey realised th e

roots w ere sick , th ey experim ented w ith different levels of pruning b ranch es to give

th e tree a rest Most trees recovered

SCENA R IO 1: FA R MER IS PA SSIVE R ECIPIENT

I have many more problems!

SCENA R IO 2: FA R MER IS EMPO W ER ED

Far m e r Pr o b le m

I d e n ti fi cation E x p e r i m e n tation Far m e r

I n je cti o n o f Ne w

Pr i n ci p le s (fi e ld d i agn o s i s ,

Presenting th is type of inform ation to farm ers typically lies at th e origin of participatorytraining or extension activities, especially if com b ined w ith adult learning principles.

A noth er w ay to em pow er farm ers is to fully involve th em in participatory research

activities Th is is particularly fruitful in th e case w h en both scientists and farm ers are

unclear ab out h ow exactly to tack le th e problem in th e field, yet th e problem sh ould h avebeen diagnosed to a certain extent (oth erw ise w e risk loosing too m uch of th e farm ers’tim e

in case w e fail to explore th e righ t type of m anagem ent practice)

A m ajor difference from th e traditional approach of w ork ing w ith farm ers is th at farm erslearn to solve th eir ow n problem s, rath er th an being told w h at th ey sh ould do A s each of

us w ill learn th ese participatory approach es ourselves by doing, you w ill realize over tim e

th at facilitation sk ills becom e equally im portant as tech nical sk ills H ence also th e logicalstep of approach ing farm ers sim ultaneously as a team of scientists and extension

staff/PPSD , rath er th an approach ing th em in th e traditional se q uential w ay

In th ose cases w h ere Vietnam ese research institutions h ave experience in regularly w ork ing

w ith farm ers in th e field (eith er for conducting farm er interview s or on-farm research ),

th ere h as h ardly ever been a joint and system atic effort to involve extension or PPSD O n

th e oth er h and, trem endous ach ievem ents h ave been m ade over th e past decade in Vietnam

th rough national and international program s and projects regarding h um an capacity

building in using participatory approach es (Integrated Pest Managem ent, Natural R esourceManagem ent, Com m unity Forestry, …)

O ne of th e aim s of our A CIA R project is to integrate sk ills across projects and program s.PPSD h as been involved (and still is) in th e training on Field D iagnostics, initiated by th eproject in February 2003 D uring th is w ork sh op w e h ave invited tw o PPSD staff m em bers

w h o are experienced in conducting participatory research w ith in Farm er Field Sch ools onrice or vegetab les as resource people It w as h eart w arm ing to see th eir enth usiasm andeagerness to collab orate w ith th e project, even if th ey h adn’t w ork ed on fruit crops before.For instance one of th e resource people in th e North w as Mr Ph am D inh Th o from

PPSD , H ai Ph ong H e h as been w ork ing in th e National IPM Program on rice since 19 9 4and h as been involved in a num ber of Participatory A ction R esearch (PA R ) activities

w ith in th e FA O regional IPM on Vegetab les Program Mr H ong from PPSD , H a Tay,joined us as second resource person, w h ile in th e South Mr Le Minh D ung from PPSD ,

H CM City contributed w ith a strong presentation and supporting group discussions

O ften scientists are called in as resource person during Farm er Field Sch ools to conveytech nical inform ation, th is tim e people from PPSD acted as a resource person to convey

m eth odological back stopping to scientists

Th e follow ing diagram sh ow s th e conceptual fram ew ork for integrating diagnostic andparticipatory research approach es It h as been used as th e basis on w h ich diseases w ereselected as topics for FPR , evidently in com b ination w ith th e perceived im portance of th edisease A sim ilar system atic approach h as been used in th e survey sum m ary report b y D r.Eric Boa, an im portant guiding tool during th e w ork sh op (Th ank s for th is great effort,