Armenia - Pesticides Guidelines and Project Report
Two publications by the University of Wageningen on pesticides use in Armenia
04.07.2005
According to our point of view, combination of the best methods from Integrated Pest Management (IPM) and organic agriculture is the best solution to improve the pesticide use in Hayanist and also provide steps toward sustainable agriculture in the future time. At the beginning, the methods of IPM are used to reduce pesticide gradually and at the same time educate villagers about good agricultural practices, proper pesticide application and also about protective clothing.
After these steps, hopefully that the villagers understand the benefit of this farming system and also the environment conditions in Hayanist are healthier to start the organic agriculture farming system which replaced pesticide with pest and disease management through agricultural practices. Although the combination of IPM and organic agriculture with all the steps are best to reduce pesticide use according to former study about Hayanist, there is a possibility that this alternatives might not fit to solve the problems in Hayanist due to lack of information such as details on environment conditions and natural resources which are important to find the best solution for Hayanist.
Download the Guidelines on Arminia (1 MB, pdf).
Project Report - Future perspective
We are quite optimistic about the future of the villagers in Hayanist; awareness about responsible pesticide use should be a reachable target. This would surely result in better health and environment of the village. However, pesticide misuse is not the only problem in Hayanist. If the aim is to improve the overall conditions in Hayanist, other aspects have to be dealt with as well, for example improvement of the irrigation channels, drinking water and the sewage.
It is going to be a difficult task to change the agricultural practices in the village. However, with the right method and some help from outside of the village, it should be possible to change the practices in the village from a conventional way to sustainable agriculture. We assume that from 10 to 15 years from now, all pesticides are replaced by a more organic farming system. It will probably be a slow process, but step by step, things will get better for the Hayanist villagers!
Download the Project Report on Pesticide Use in Armenia (1 MB, pdf).
