A Strong Partner for Sustainable Development

Module
in
CROP PROT 104

APPROACHES AND PRACTICES IN

PEST MANAGEMENT

College of CAFES
BSA
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Module No. 13

CULTURAL CONTROL AND

AGROECOLOGY
Topic

2ND Semester AY 2020-2021

VIMBEE A. ERESUELA
Instructor 1

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

Cover page 1

Title Page 2

Table of Contents 3

Instruction to the Users 4

Introduction 5

Chapter

Title of the Chapter 6

Overview 6

Learning outcomes 6

Pre-test 6

A. Time Allotment 6

B. Discussion 6

a. Cultural Control of Pest 6

b. Agroecology 9

C. Activities/Exercises 12

D. Evaluation/Post-test 13

References 14

Greetings and Students information 15

Back Cover (WPU-Vision 2020, Mission and Core Values) 16

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INSTRUCTION TO THE USER

This module would provide you an educational experience while

independently accomplishing the task at your own pace or time. It aims as
well to ensure that learning is unhampered by health and other challenges. It
covers the topic about the Cultural Control and Agroecology

Reminders in using this module:

1. Keep this material neat and intact.

2. Answer the pretest first to measure what you know and what to be
learned about the topic discussed in this module.
3. Accomplish the activities and exercises as aids and reinforcement for
better understanding of the lessons.
4. Answer the post-test to evaluate your learning.
5. Do not take pictures in any parts of this module nor post it to social
media platforms.
6. Value this module for your own learning by heartily and honestly
answering and doing the exercises and activities. Time and effort were
spent in the preparation in order that learning will still continue amidst
this Covid-19 pandemic.
7. Observe health protocols: wear mask, sanitize and maintain physical
distancing.

Hi! I’m Blue Bee, your WPU Mascot.

Welcome to Western Philippines University!

Shape your dreams with quality learning experience.

STAY SAFE AND HEALTHY!

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INTRODUCTION

This module will serve as an alternative learning material to usual way of

classroom teaching and learning delivery. The instructor will facilitate and explain the

module to the students to achieve its expected learning outcomes, activities and to

ensure that they will learn amidst of pandemic.

This module will help you to understand The Cultural control of pest and Agriecology.

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CHAPTER XIII

CULTURAL CONTROL AND AGRO-ECOLOGY

Overview

Module 13 covers the topic about the cultural control and agroecology.

Learning Outcomes:

At the end of this lesson, you can:

• Discuss he cultural control

• Define agroecology

Pre-test
Directions: To start off, you have to answer the pre-test for you to measure how
much you know about the topic. You can start now. Each question is worth 1 point.
Read each question fully and carefully take your time. GOD BLESS!
Test 1. True or False. Write the word True if the statement is correct and the word
False if the statement is wrong.
1. The main purpose of cultural control is to make the environment less favorable for the pest
and more favorable for its natural enemies.
2. The Goal of Agroecology is to develop and manage sustainable agroecosystems.
3. agroecology define as control of insect pests through adoption of ordinary farm practices
in appropriate time in such a way that insects are either eliminated or reduced in population
4. The principles of agroecology and sustainability is to used sound knowledge on pest
ecology and large-scale adoption
5. Cultural control is a whole-systems approach to food, feed, and fiber production that
balances environmental soundness, social equity, and economic viability among all sectors of
the public, including international and intergenerational peoples.

B. Time Allotment: 30 minutes

Discussion

Cultural Control of Pest

Manipulation of cultural practices for reducing or avoiding pest damage to crops is
called cultural control. It is also defined as ‘control of insect pests through adoption of ordinary

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farm practices in appropriate time in such a way that insects are either eliminated or reduced
in population’.

Impact of cultural control

The cultural practices may lead to the control of insect pest either by directly affecting
their growth and multiplication or by minimizing the chance of their attack on plants.

The main purpose of cultural control is to make the environment less favorable for the
pest and more favorable for its natural enemies.

Requisite of cultural control

• Sound knowledge on pest ecology; and

• Large-scale adoption

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B. Community level practices

• Synchronized sowing -Dilution of pest infestation

• Crop rotation -Break’s insect life cycle
• Crop sanitation -Destruction of insect infested parts; Removal of fallen plant parts and
crop residue destruction

Merits and demerits of Cultural Control

Advantages
• No extra cost
• No costly inputs
• No special equipment
• Minimum cost of labor, if required
• Minimum chance for biotype selection
• No health hazards- ecologically sound
• No harmful effects on non-target organisms
• Good component in IPM

Disadvantages
• Prophylactic in nature
• Timing decides success
• No complete control
• Requires long term planning
•

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Agroecology

The study of ecological processes that operate in agricultural production systems. - A

scientific discipline that uses ecological theory to study, design, manage and evaluate
agricultural systems that are productive but also resource conserving. - An ecological approach
to agriculture that views agricultural areas as ecosystems and is concerned with the ecological
impact of agricultural practices.
The science behind sustainable agriculture, from the ground up. It encourages
democratic, decentralized decision-making by farmers and incorporates practical, low cost
and ecology-based technologies for productive farming.
Agroecology provides the knowledge and methodology necessary for developing an
agriculture that is on the one hand environmentally sound and on the other hand highly
productive, socially equitable and economically viable. Through the application of
agroecological principles, the basic challenge for sustainable agriculture to make better use of
internal resources can be easily achieved by minimizing the external inputs used, and
preferably by regenerating internal resources more effectively through diversification
strategies that enhance synergisms among key components of the agroecosystem.

Goal of Agroecology: To develop and manage sustainable agroecosystems.

An Ecological Definition of Sustainable Agriculture

By Professor Stephen R. Gliessman

Sustainable agriculture:
A whole-systems approach to food, feed, and fiber production that balances
environmental soundness, social equity, and economic viability among all sectors of the
public, including international and intergenerational peoples. Inherent in this definition is the
idea that sustainability must be extended not only globally but indefinitely in time, and to all
living organisms including humans.

Sustainable Agroecosystems:
• Maintain their natural resource base.
• Rely on minimum artificial inputs from outside the farm system.
• Manage pests and diseases through internal regulating mechanisms.
• Recover from the disturbances caused by cultivation and harvest.

Principles of Agroecology and Sustainability

• Use Renewable Resources

o Use renewable sources of energy instead of non- renewable sources.
o Use biological nitrogen fixation.
o Use naturally-occurring materials instead of synthetic, manufactured inputs.
o Use on-farm resources as much as possible.
o Recycle on-farm nutrients.

• Minimize Toxics
o Reduce or eliminate the use of materials that have the potential to harm the
environment or the health of farmers, farm workers, or consumers.
o Use farming practices that reduce or eliminate environmental pollution with
nitrates, toxic gases, or other materials generated by burning or overloading
agroecosystems with nutrients.

Conserve Resources

Conserve Soil

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• Sustain soil nutrient and organic matter stocks.

• Minimize erosion.
1. Use perennials
2. Use no-till or reduced tillage methods.
3. Mulch.

• Conserve Water
o Dry farm.
o Use efficient irrigation systems.
• Conserve Energy
o Use energy efficient technologies.
• Conserve genetic resources
o Save seed.
o Maintain local landraces.
o Use heirloom varieties.
• Conserve Capital
o Keep bank debt to a minimum.
o Reduce expenditures.

Manage Ecological Relationships

• Reestablish ecological relationships that can occur naturally on the farm instead of
reducing and simplifying them.
• Manage pests, diseases, and weeds instead of “controlling” them.
• Use intercropping and cover cropping
• Integrate Livestock
• Enhance beneficial biota
1. In soils
o Mycorrhizae
o Rhizobia
o free-living nitrogen fixers

2. Beneficial insects
o Provide refugia for beneficials.
o Enhance beneficial populations by breed and release programs.

• Recycle Nutrients
1. Shift from throughflow nutrient management to recycling of nutrients.
2. Return crop residues and manures to soils.
3. When outside inputs are necessary, sustain their benefits by recycling them

• Minimize Disturbance
1. Use reduced tillage or no-till methods
2. Use mulches
3. Use perennials

Adjust to Local Environments

• Match cropping patterns to the productive potential and physical limitations of the
farm landscape.
• Adapt Biota
• Adapt plants and animals to the ecological conditions of the farm rather than
modifying the farm to meet the needs of the crops and animals.

Diversify

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• Landscapes
1. Maintain undisturbed areas as buffer zones.
2. Use contour and strip tillage.
3. Maintain riparian buffer zones.
4. Use rotational grazing.
• Biota
1. Intercrop.
2. Rotate crops.
3. Use polyculture.
4. Integrate animals in system.
5. Use multiple species of crops and animals on farm.
6. Use multiple varieties and landraces of crops and animals on farm.
• Economics
1. Avoid dependence on single crops/products.
2. Use alternative markets.
3. Organic markets.
4. Community Supported Agriculture
5. "Pick your own" marketing.
6. Add value to agricultural products.
7. Process foods before selling them.
8. Find alternative incomes.
9. Agrotourism
10. Avoid dependence on external subsidies.
11. Use multiple crops to diversify seasonal timing of production over the year.

Empower People
• Ensure that local people control their development process.
• Use indigenous knowledge
• Promote multi-directional transfer of knowledge, as opposed to "top-down" knowledge
transfer.
1. Teach experts and farmers to share knowledge, not "impose" it.
• Engage in people-centric development.
• Increase farmer participation.
1. Link farmers with consumers
• Strengthen communities.
1. Encourage local partnerships between people and development groups.
2. Ensure intergenerational fairness.
• Guarantee agricultural labor.
1. Ensure equitable labor relations for farm workers.
• Teach principles of agroecology & sustainability.

Manage Whole Systems

• Use planning processes that recognize the different scales of agroecosystems.
1. Landscapes
2. Households
3.Farms
4. Communities
5. Bioregions
6. Nations
• Minimize impacts on neighboring ecosystems.

Maximize Long-Term Benefits

• Maximize intergenerational benefits, not just annual profits.

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• Maximize livelihoods and quality of life in rural areas.

• Facilitate generational transfers.
• Use long-term strategies.
• Develop plans that can be adjusted and reevaluated through time.
• Incorporate long-term sustainability into overall agroecosystem design and
management.
• Build soil fertility over the long-term.
• Build soil organic matter.

Value Health
• Human Health
• Cultural Health
• Environmental Health
1. Value most highly the overall health of agroecosystems rather than the
outcome of a particular crop system or season.
2. Eliminate environmental pollution by toxics and surplus nutrients.
• Animal Health
• Plant Health

Principles
1. Enhance recycling of biomass and optimizing nutrient availability and
balancing nutrient flow.
2. Securing favorable soil conditions for plant growth, particularly by managing
organic matter and enhancing soil biotic activity.
3. Minimizing losses due to flows of solar radiation, air and water by way of
microclimate management, water harvesting and soil management through
increased soil cover.
4. Species and genetic diversification of the agroecosystem in time and space.
5. Enhance beneficial biological interactions and synergisms among
agrobiodiversity components thus resulting in the promotion of key ecological
processes and services.

D. Activities/Exercises

Directions: Please do this activity to a separate paper.

Let’s do this…

1. Give cultural control of controlling Pest. You can search to the internet.

2. What is agroecology.

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E. Evaluation/Post-test

Directions: Read carefully and answer the following questions. Answer on

separate sheet of paper. This is a graded exam. This test will evaluate how much
your effort to learn this topic.

Test 1. True or False. Write the word True if the statement is correct and the word
False if the statement is wrong.
1. The main purpose of cultural control is to make the environment less favorable for the pest
and more favorable for its natural enemies.
2. The Goal of Agroecology is to develop and manage sustainable agroecosystems.
3. agroecology define as control of insect pests through adoption of ordinary farm practices
in appropriate time in such a way that insects are either eliminated or reduced in population
4. The principles of agroecology and sustainability is to used sound knowledge on pest
ecology and large-scale adoption
5. Cultural control is a whole-systems approach to food, feed, and fiber production that
balances environmental soundness, social equity, and economic viability among all sectors of
the public, including international and intergenerational peoples.

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References

Hill, Stuart. (1987). Cultural pest control. American Journal of Alternative

Agriculture - AMER J ALTERNATIVE AGR. 2. 10.1017/S0889189300009383.

https://www.slideshare.net/KarlLouisseObispo/cultural-control-of-pest

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Congratulations for completing this module!

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Vision 2020
WPU: the leading knowledge center for sustainable
development of West Philippines and beyond.

Mission
WPU commits to develop quality human resource and green
technologies for a dynamic economy and sustainable
development through relevant instruction,
research and extension services.

Core Values (3CT)

Culture of Excellence
Commitment
Creativity
Teamwork

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