Integrated Participatory Pest Management

Local Community Empowerment for Reducing Agricultural Pollution and Conserving Agro-Biodiversity

Location: Plain of Garmsar
UNDP / GEF Small Grants Programme project page

The project aims to reduce the use of chemicals and other agricultural pollutants through integrated participatory pest management by the local community in the Plain of Garmsar.

The project will empower the local community towards sustainable management of the agro-ecosystem by promoting environmental friendly practices. The local community will be trained to make use of the suitable natural predators and beneficial biota for biological pest control.

As a practical solution to the contamination of the soil and groundwater resources by the released effluents from the 600 animal farms in the plain, biogas techniques and procedures will be introduced and a unit will be established in a cattle farm. The farmers trained in this project will organize and conduct ‘Farmer’ to ‘Farmer’ training workshops and study tours for farmers from other villages. The women’s association will be trained to set up an outlet to market the organic crop. At the end, one workshop on site and another in Tehran will be conducted to disseminate the experiences and lessons learned for the stakeholders and other NGOs. The best practices will be documented as films, brochures and booklets.