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Experiments with spiders and ants Environmentally responsible pest controls used until recently by just a handful of farming families in a single community in Northern India have now spread to more than 2000 farmers within multiple communities. The discovery – ‘friendly’ spiders control insect pests In 1992, during research into indigenous knowledge in Northern India, the IDEA organisation (Integrated Development Through Environmental Awakening) discovered that a small local tribe used ‘friendly’ or ‘social’ spiders to control stem borers in their paddy fields. This finding was of immediate interest to IDEA’s experts, since it offered a credible alternative to the use of agro-chemicals and to the myriad problems that these toxins present. However, although the signs looked promising, IDEA recognized that the ‘friendly spider’ method of pest control needed further analysis before its use could be promoted nationally. Analysis It was discovered that the use of spiders to control pests was an age-old practice of a specific community – the Nooka Dora - in a border village in the North Eastern Ghats of India. The spider was identified as Stegodyphus sarisinorium - a spider known to experts as ‘Bulu’ but referred to as Patmakidi in the Oriya language and as Salepurugu in the local Telugu tongue. However, this knowledge was rapidly disappearing, practiced by barely five or six families in a remote village and this only in their paddy fields. IDEA persuaded a handful of young and old farmers in the tribe to conduct small and simple experiments in the research center of IDEA. These experiments were successful and proved the use of the ‘social spider’ to be very effective. Disseminating knowledge Based on these results, further experiments were completed with the co-operation of farmers in other villages to illustrate the effectiveness of this method of pest control within local farming communities. It was at this stage that IDEA designed a systematic process for participatory research and started studying specific aspects of the Bulu spider – its habitat, feeding habits, breeding habits, etc. Experiments using the Bulu spider were at the same time carried out on horticultural crops (guava and pomegranate), vegetable crops (brinjal, ladies finger, cabbage, cauliflower and chilli) and floricultural crops (roses). It soon became apparent that this spider could also control fruit borers and mites in these crops. The new study helped to disseminate this knowledge among an ever-increasing number of tribal communities and farmers. Training material was developed on the experimentation and propagation techniques of the Bulu spider and IDEA were able to provide advice to more than 500 farmers on how to conduct their own on-site experiments on different crops in their villages. These farmers again disseminated their newly gained knowledge to other farming families within their communities. This knowledge has now spread to more than 2000 farmers within communities in other areas, due mostly to network interaction at local level and to knowledge acquired through participation in specific research projects. Control of black ants with domestic red ants IDEA researchers also discovered that some of the Konda dora tribal farmers used tiny ‘domestic’ red ants to control the destructive black ants in their Jawor fields. The challenge: Traditionally, mountain farmers face a severe threat from black ants, which eat the tender Jawor grains and damage the crop. The solution: Some of the more experienced farmers collect these ‘domestic’ red ants from their houses and distribute them in the fields affected by black ants. The red ants eat the eggs of black ants laid around the Jawor plant roots and attack the black ants themselves. It has been observed that the black ants leave the fields within hours of the arrival of the red ants. IDEA concluded that this simple technique of using red ants to control black ants was very effective. In order to validate their findings, IDEA’s research staff enrolled the help of farmers in other villages to test the use of red ants to control hostile black ants. The results were again positive. IDEA have systematically documented this knowledge and have trained farmers to promote its practice widely in other areas. Today a growing number of farmers in the mountain villages are using this technique to control black ants in their Jawor and maize fields. END: Source: LEISA magazine, October 2002 International exchange of information: IDEA’s tribal farmers’ networks would like to interact with farmers of other countries for mutual exchange of information on indigenous knowledge and endogenous development approaches. Please send your comments and suggestions to the following address: K.J.N.Gowtham Shankar, IDEA, Flat No.6A, Maharaja Towers, R.K. Mission Road, Visakhapatnam 530 003, Andra Pradesh, India. Email: gowtham_shankar@hotmail.com IDEA is a non-government research and development organization working with tribal people in the northern Ghats in India and is a partner organisation in the COMPAS Programme for Endogenous Development. Experiments with botanical pesticides: IDEA also conducted several experiments using indigenous tribal knowledge on botanical pesticides, reviving the use of many of these botanical pesticides. See IDEA website for further details Photo: K.J.N. Gowtham Shankar << country/story review |
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