APS Homepage
Back


POSTERS: Outreach and education

Through the lens of social science: How the IPM Innovation Lab is helping smallholder farmers achieve food security in the developing world.
Amer Fayad - University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources. Maria Elisa Christie- Virginia Tech, Wondi Mersie- Virginia State University, Daniel Sumner- Virginia Tech, Lalit Sah- iDE Nepal, Sintu (Lidya) Alemayhu- Virginia State University, Rica Joy Flor- International Rice Research Institute, Jagangir Md Alam- Me

The Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Integrated Pest Management (IPM IL), a USAID funded collaborative research program managed by Virginia Tech, continues to make transformative impacts on the livelihoods of smallholder farmers around the world through improving crop production, nutrition, health, income, and food security. The IPM IL develops and implements ecologically based IPM technologies, practices, and strategies in developing countries as well as transfers technologies and scales them up. The program examines the gendered components of pest management by addressing two broad questions: 1) How do gender relations, norms, and attitudes affect the impact and outcomes of IPM IL research activities? 2) How do IPM IL research activities affect gender relations, norms, and attitudes at the household and community level? The IPM IL places special emphasis on gender analysis at the onset of and throughout IPM research and dissemination activities, so that women’s and men’s priorities, problems, and concerns are at the forefront. The IPM IL works to understand the gendered pathways of IPM knowledge and technologies and is making strides in dissemination and application of IPM technologies, promoting the well-being of both men and women, and increasing women’s ability to make pest management decisions associated with knowledge acquired through the IPM IL program.