Sixty-five farmers reported on pesticide use and the signs and symptoms of acute pesticide poisoning when using two different plant protection strategies: in 2003 using chemical controls and in 2004 using an approach to Integrated Pest Management (IPM) based on an ecological analysis of the field conditions. Exposure to organophosphates was confirmed as a serious risk factor for occupational poisoning. The adoption of IPM reduced the use of pesticides and halved the incidence of acute pesticide poisoning. Overall, the pesticide use spectrum shifted towards lower WHO Hazard Classes. A reduction of adverse health effects was attained through a reduction in exposure to toxic pesticides and behavioural changes. Given that other strategies to reduce the rate of acute poisoning have proven ineffective, interventions aiming to minimize pesticide poisoning in India and in other developing countries with similar rural conditions should focus on restricting the use of highly toxic compounds and educating farmers on IPM.

This chapter explores intensive hands-on occupational education for farmers in selected European, African, Latin American countries and in south India. An Indian case study of Farmer Field Schools for Integrated Pest and Production Management (IPPM) to ensure food security and livelihood improvement is presented, to introduce discussion of the role of IPPM beyond improving agriculture productivity. Does it enable farmers to adopt practices that move food and farming systems toward a low carbon economy? Does it help mitigate the effects of climate change? Does it help small farmers reach the combined goals of sustainability and development? India is experiencing unprecedented economic growth, based primarily on service sector development, yet income inequalities are widening and the number of poor – 300–400 million living mainly in rural areas – is not decreasing as a consequence of a deepening agrarian crisis. Agriculture for marginal farmers provides the major part of their family’s nutritional requirements; however, it is no longer the primary source of income, neither does it ensure food security. Climatic change effects, with higher temperatures and less rainfall, have reduced further the viability of farming in drought-prone areas. The tendency is for millions of poor farmers to leave agriculture, aspiring to join the service sector but more commonly ending up among the urban destitute. The prospect for agriculture in India is thought to lie in a mix of high science applied in favourable areas to sustain the grain, legume, and oil seed output needed for basic food security; for high value crops for the rising domestic consumer and export markets; expanded investment in market-led enterprise development and skills training in rural areas; and renewed attention to farm-based livelihoods and agro-ecosystem functioning, especially in rainfed farming. This chapter addresses livelihoods and agro-ecosystem functioning, and specifically the role of IPPM as a means for strengthening agro-ecosystem resilience in the face of environmental changes.

Integrated pest management (IPM) has been introduced in India to reduce the serious impact of the use of highly toxic pesticides on people’s health and the environment. However, IPM diffusion has been slow, in part because of the inherent complexity of the approach based on decisions requiring knowledge of ecological principles and local ecological dynamics. Farmer field schools (FFSs) on IPM, conducted for cotton growers in Andhra Pradesh, India, is shown to be an effective educational approach for building the essential knowledge and decision-making skills among farmers for IPM adoption. FFS farmers (73) drastically reduced the use of highly toxic pesticides as a result of increased knowledge on biological control principles. Yield levels were not affected by this reduction, showing that part of the current use of pesticides in cotton cultivation is superfluous. IPM labour demand has been suggested also as limiting IPM diffusion. However, an analysis of the physical labour use, carried out on a sub-sample (43 FFS and 52 control farms), showed that the adoption of IPM in the studied farms did not lead to an increase in the overall physical labour requirement, nor in the total time spent on plant protection.

The need to increase agricultural sustainability has induced the government of India to promote the adoption of integrated pest management (IPM). An evaluation of cotton-based conventional and IPM farming systems was conducted in India (2002-2004). The farmers managing the IPM farms had participated in discovery-based ecological training, namely Farmer Field Schools (FFS). The evaluation included five impact areas: (1) the ecological footprint and (2) occupational hazard of cotton production; and the effects of IPM adoption on (3) labour allocation; (4) management practices; and (5) livelihoods. The analysis showed that a mix of approaches increased the depth and the relevance of the findings. Participatory and conventional methods were complementary. The study also revealed different impacts on the livelihoods of women and men, and wealthy and poor farmers, and demonstrated that the value of the experience can be captured also in terms of the farmers' own frames of reference. The evaluation process consumed considerable resources, indicating that proper budgetary allocations need to be made.

Farmer field schools (FFSs) were conducted in southern India to reduce pesticide input and enhance sustainability of cotton production systems. This study was carried out to determine the additional benefits of FFSs in the social and economic arena, using the sustainable livelihoods (SL) concept to frame the evaluation. Farmers who had participated in the integrated pest management (IPM) FFSs perceived a range of impacts much beyond the adoption of IPM practices. The reduced cost of cultivation allowed for financial recovery from debt and the building of physical assets. IPMFFS households and production systems were perceived by the participants to have become more economically resilient than Non-IPMFFS control groups when faced with adversity In the participants' view IPMFFSs also led to enhanced individual and community social well-being, a benefit valued in particular by the women participants. The study tested a new application of the SL conceptual framework as a tool for evaluation.

A season-long assessment of acute pesticide poisoning among farmers was conducted in three villages in India. Fifty female cotton growers reported the adverse effects experienced after exposures to pesticides by themselves and by their male relatives (n=47). The study documented the serious consequences of pesticide use for the health of farmers, particularly women field helpers. Typically female tasks such as mixing concentrated chemicals and refilling spraying tanks were as hazardous as direct pesticide application. Of 323 reported events, 83.6% were associated with signs and symptoms of mild to severe poisoning, and 10% of the pesticide application sessions were associated with three or more neurotoxic/systemic signs and symptoms typical of poisoning by organophosphates, which were used in 47% of the applications. Although in 6% of the spray sessions the workers' neurotoxic effects were extremely serious, none sought medical care. Low-income marginal farmers were more often subjected to severe poisoning than were landlords.