Workshop held on tomato IPM in the San José de Ocoa region of the Dominican Republic

A workshop on identification and management of pests and diseases was held on Wednesday April 30, 2011, in the province of San José de Ocoa, Dominican Republic. About 50 vegetable producers and agricultural technicians met at the Dominican Institute of Agriculture and Forestry Research (IDIAF) to learn about rational use of pesticides to produce healthy food and to help reduce production costs.

The workshop was supported in part by the IPM IL in partnership with IDIAF and the Universities of Arizona, Penn State, Purdue University, and Virginia Tech in coordination with researchers in plant protection in Ecuador, Guatemala and Honduras. The workshop aimed to offer alternatives to vegetable growers in the management of pests and plant diseases that significantly reduce pesticide use in Dominican agricultural production.

Mr. Rafael Perez, Executive Director of the Dominican Institute of Agriculture and Forestry Research (IDIAF), received the American university researchers and the delegations of the participating countries.

Dr. Jeff Alwang, Principle Investigator of the IPM in Latin America and the Caribbean program, noted that the objective of the studies presented at the conference was to 1) create valid integrated pest management packages, 2) encourage producers to adopt these technologies,  and 3) reduce the negative impact to human health of the use of pesticides. Mr. Perez stressed the importance of this initiative, which offers alternatives for the management of health problems in crops, especially tomato and peppers.

Workshop held on tomato IPM in the San José de Ocoa region of the Dominican Republic