Communication and Behavior Change in Rice Farmers' Pest Management:
The Case of Using Mass Media in Vietnam
M.M. Escalada, K.L. Heong, N.H. Huan, V.Mai
Rice farmers' unnecessary insecticide use for leaf folder control is due to
misperceptions. A mass media campaign was organized to motivate farmers to
test a conflict information expressed as a heuristic. After the campaign,
insecticide use dropped from 3.35 sprays per farmer to 1.56. Proportions of
farmers spraying at the early and late tillering and booting stages decreased
from 59%, 84% and 85% to 0.2%, 19% and 30%, respectively. Leaf folder control
perceptions, expressed as the belief index, changed from 11.25 to 7.62.
Proportions of farmers believing that leaf folders could cause damages, yield
loss and needed sprays, dropped from 66%, 70% and 77% to 24%, 25% and 23%,
respectively. The study showed that mass media could effectively transfer
some elements of knowledge-intensive pest management, especially simple
non-site specific information designed to motivate.
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M.M. Escalada is professor, Department of Development Communication,
Visayas State College of Agriculture; and K.L. Heong is entomologist,
Entomology and Plant Pathology Division, International Rice Research
Institute; respectively, the Philippines. N.H. Huan is Director, Pesticide
Control Center; and V. Mai is Deputy Director General; respectively,
Department of Plant Protection, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development,
Vietnam. This work was supported by the Swiss Agency for Development and
Cooperation (SDC).
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