Feed the Future Bangladesh Integrated Pest Management

Feed the Future Bangladesh Integrated Pest Management Activity (IPMA): Associate Award

IPMA is a U.S. Agency for International Development-funded program that aims to strengthen the capacity of Bangladesh agricultural sector stakeholders to control and prevent the spread of current and emerging threats to crops in order to ensure productive, profitable, and environmentally safe agricultural production and productivity. 

Objectives of the IPMA include:
1) Increase the availability and affordability of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) measures for the prevention and spread of current and emerging threats;
2) Increase the capacity of Bangladesh agricultural stakeholders, such as academia, financial institutions, government, judiciary, media, civil society, the private sector, and value chain actors, to implement IPM measures; and
3) Increase the adoption of IPM by smallholder farmers to increase agricultural production and productivity, while reducing environmental hazards caused by indiscriminate use of pesticides.

In this program, Virginia Tech addresses the management of newly introduced pests and implements IPM packages for groundnut, eggplant, mango, and banana. Partners for the activity include the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) - which addresses management of fall armyworm and implements IPM packages for rice, maize, sesame, mung bean, sunflower, lentil, mustard, and potato - and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) - which implements Plant Quarantine and Pesticide safety regulatory activities.