This introductory topic is divided in two parts:
The objective of this topic is to familiarise the students with policy considerations related to ICM at international, regional and national levels, and to understand how they govern and/or support the implementation of ICM. It will introduce some of the drivers for policy development. Students will become familiar with international agreements related to pesticides management, biodiversity, plant genetic resources, food safety, trade, etc. Case studies will be used to look at the development and implementation of policies related to ICM at regional and national levels.
Keywords: Policy drivers; International frameworks; Regional policies; National regulations; Policy development
The aim of this topic is to explain about other Implementation Systems that are adopted in agriculture apart from Integrated Crop Management. This allows for comparison of ICM with other systems and instigates trainees to assess the potential of implementing adapted agricultural systems under their local conditions. With our case studies, we will cover a wide breadth of systems, such as voluntary standards, national standards, and very local implementation types, such as producer clubs.
The main objective of this module is to understand some agricultural topics from an economic perspective. Students will be introduced to some basic concepts of economics, markets, agricultural policies, and environmental costs of agricultural production. Students will also learn how to compute farm profits and conduct benefit cost analysis to determine the financial viability of a farm business or project. The module will also provide a basic introduction to value chain analysis and assessment of the economic impacts of ICM interventions.
Keywords: demand and supply; opportunity cost; profit maximization; agricultural policies; food price crisis; market failure; externality; tragedy of the commons; value chain analysis; gross margin, net present value; impact assessment.
The objective of this module is to help students develop skills on how to integrate gender in agriculture programs and deliver gender sensitive rural advisory services. It will introduce basic concepts of gender and social inclusion and the rationale for adopting a gender lens in agriculture development programs. It will provide students with basic approaches to improve the participation and benefit of women and other socially excluded groups from agriculture interventions and how to conduct gender analysis in agriculture programs. Students will also learn how adopt rural advisory service provision to meet the needs of both men and women farmers.
The objective of the topic is to understand the role that extension services play in implementing Integrated Crop Management. It will provide an overview of the various approaches to agricultural extension that are used by governmental, private and other organisations. We will focus on some extension methods (including ‘lead farmers’, ‘farmer field school’, ‘mass approaches’) and see in detail how they are applied in the context of ICM and how they are supporting farmers towards implementation. Using case studies of agricultural extension, the impact of the methods and approaches will be further analysed and discussed.
Keywords: Extension philosophies and methods, Demand-driven approaches, Face-to-face versus mass extension approaches, Plant clinics, Impact studies
The objective of this module is to enable students to plan and conduct experiments relevant for ICM (being a knowledge-driven approach) as well as to conduct reliable data analysis. This includes the sound development of objectives, hypotheses, choosing treatments and targeting issues such as replication, randomisation, stratification, blocking, plot design, and more.
Participants will be introduced to the logic as well as the technical side of the main forms of both descriptive and inferential statistics, with a focus on the latter. Finally, students will learn how to report statistical results.
Keywords: Experimental design; Statistical methods
The objective of this module is to highlight the impact that climate change is having on agriculture now and in the future and how countries are looking to address the issue of climate change and food security. It will illustrate what is meant by climate smart agriculture and why it is needed to combat climate change. It will provide information on what areas this covers and how it can help combat the impacts of climate change on agriculture. In addition, it will introduce the concept of climate smart pest management and how this approach addresses the key pillars of climate smart agriculture. It will provide an opportunity to explore how the changing climate will affect pests and disease, and what adaptation and mitigation strategies can be deployed to support climate smart pest management.
Keywords: Climate change and agriculture: Climate smart agriculture: Climate smart pest management; introduction, : CSPM; Production and resources,: CSPM; creating an enabling environment.