Rice field planted with strips of flowering plants along levees for ecological engineering (Leonardo V. Marquez (Philrice, Nueva Ecija, Philippines))

Ecological engineering for biological pest control in lowland rice agroecosystems (Philippines)

Description

Ecological engineering in lowland rice agroecosystems by planting of flower strips in rice fields as habitats for beneficial arthropods which control pests.

To counteract the negative impact of agricultural intensification, in particular the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services, more sustainable management for crop land and surrounding habitats is required. ‘Ecological engineering’, in this case meaning the provision of habitats for beneficial arthropods, has recently gained considerable attention as a method of reducing pesticide input, through stimulating biological pest control by natural enemies.

Purpose of the Technology: The concept of ecological engineering is aimed primarily at the regulation of pest species, through the provision of habitats for their natural enemies. However, other ecosystem services, such as pollination and cultural services, may simultaneously be enhanced by using the same measures. One such measure, which is popular and effective in temperate countries where agro-environmental schemes are implemented, is the planting of flower strips as habitats.
In intensively managed tropical rice production systems, biological pest control, pollination services and landscape aesthetics could also benefit from the establishment of flower strips on the bunds within irrigated fields. The specific aim of the technology featured here is to increase biodiversity in rice fields and provide habitats for beneficial organisms such as predators of rice pests (e.g. spiders) or parasitoids (e.g. hymenopteran parasites), which in turn will help to minimize the use of pesticides. An additional benefit is landscape beautification.

Establishment / maintenance activities and inputs: The process comprises collecting seeds of flowering plants (e.g. flowering annuals such as Melampodium divaricatum) and planting them in a nursery. After a month or so they can be transplanted into rice fields on bunds, with a strip size of 0.25 x 5 metres, and a distance between strips of 5 metres (to enable access for farm operations such as fertilizer application). Farmers are requested not to spray insecticides when they test this system. The flowering plants should be pruned during the fallow period in the wet season; and they will require watering during the dry season when rice is cropped. The flower strips will need to be replanted after the rice crop is harvested, if an annual species are chosen.

Natural / human environment: While this SLM technology is for an irrigated rice ecosystem in the center of the island of Luzon in the Philippines, it has already been applied in other rice producing areas – for example in Vietnam and, with some adaptations, should be applicable to irrigated lowland rice production systems throughout Southeast Asia.

Location

Location: Muñoz, Nueva Ecija, Philippines

No. of Technology sites analysed:

Geo-reference of selected sites
  • 120.8947, 15.6742

Spread of the Technology: evenly spread over an area (approx. < 0.1 km2 (10 ha))

In a permanently protected area?:

Date of implementation: less than 10 years ago (recently)

Type of introduction
Rice field planted with strips of flowering plants along levees for ecological engineering (Leonardo V. Marquez (Philrice, Nueva Ecija, Philippines))

Classification of the Technology

Main purpose
  • improve production
  • reduce, prevent, restore land degradation
  • conserve ecosystem
  • protect a watershed/ downstream areas – in combination with other Technologies
  • preserve/ improve biodiversity
  • reduce risk of disasters
  • adapt to climate change/ extremes and its impacts
  • mitigate climate change and its impacts
  • create beneficial economic impact
  • create beneficial social impact
Land use

  • Cropland
    • Annual cropping: vegetables - other, rice
    Number of growing seasons per year: 2

Water supply
  • rainfed
  • mixed rainfed-irrigated
  • full irrigation

Purpose related to land degradation
  • prevent land degradation
  • reduce land degradation
  • restore/ rehabilitate severely degraded land
  • adapt to land degradation
  • not applicable
Degradation addressed
  • biological degradation - Bs: quality and species composition/ diversity decline, Bp: increase of pests/ diseases, loss of predators
SLM group
  • integrated pest and disease management (incl. organic agriculture)
SLM measures
  • vegetative measures - V5: Others

Technical drawing

Technical specifications
Flowering plants planted around rice field (e.g. annuals such as Melampodium divaricatum)

Location: Maligaya. Muñoz, Nueva Ecija, Philippines

Date: 14 March 2016

Technical knowledge required for field staff / advisors: low

Technical knowledge required for land users: low

Main technical functions: Biological pest control reduces pollution by agro-chemicals

Secondary technical functions: promotion of vegetation species and varieties (quality, eg palatable fodder), spatial arrangement and diversification of land use

Aligned: -along boundary
Vegetative material: O : other
Number of plants per (ha): 800
Spacing between rows / strips / blocks (m): 5
Vertical interval within rows / strips / blocks (m): 5

Other species: annual flowers, e.g. Melampodium divaricatum
Author: Martin Wiemers, Philrice, Nueva Ecija, Philippines

Establishment and maintenance: activities, inputs and costs

Calculation of inputs and costs
  • Costs are calculated:
  • Currency used for cost calculation: USD
  • Exchange rate (to USD): 1 USD = n.a
  • Average wage cost of hired labour per day: 7
Most important factors affecting the costs
Costs are given for the first year of testing. If flower strips with annual flowering plants will be planted recurrently, then ‘establishment’ costs will be the same each year.
Establishment activities
  1. Flowering plant seed collection (Timing/ frequency: Fallow period)
  2. Flowering plant nursery establishment (Timing/ frequency: Fallow period)
  3. Transplanting flowering plants (Timing/ frequency: vegetative stage of rice)
Establishment inputs and costs
Specify input Unit Quantity Costs per Unit (USD) Total costs per input (USD) % of costs borne by land users
Labour
Flowering plant/ nursery / transplanting Person/day 13.0 7.0 91.0
Trasnportation - 1.0 41.5 41.5
Equipment
plastic bags / plot - 1.0 19.0 19.0
Fertilizers and biocides
Compost kg 250.0 0.12 30.0
Fertilizer kg 4.0 1.0 4.0
Total costs for establishment of the Technology 185.5
Total costs for establishment of the Technology in USD 185.5
Maintenance activities
  1. Flowering plant maintenance, i.e. trimming, removal of volunteer seedlings out of the strips and thinning during cropping season. Watering and replacement in times of long drought fallow period (Timing/ frequency: rice cropping season)
Maintenance inputs and costs
Specify input Unit Quantity Costs per Unit (USD) Total costs per input (USD) % of costs borne by land users
Labour
Flowering plant maintenance Person/day 10.0 4.0 40.0
Total costs for maintenance of the Technology 40.0
Total costs for maintenance of the Technology in USD 40.0

Natural environment

Average annual rainfall
  • < 250 mm
  • 251-500 mm
  • 501-750 mm
  • 751-1,000 mm
  • 1,001-1,500 mm
  • 1,501-2,000 mm
  • 2,001-3,000 mm
  • 3,001-4,000 mm
  • > 4,000 mm
Agro-climatic zone
  • humid
  • sub-humid
  • semi-arid
  • arid
Specifications on climate
rainy season May - November; dry season January - April
Thermal climate class: tropics
Slope
  • flat (0-2%)
  • gentle (3-5%)
  • moderate (6-10%)
  • rolling (11-15%)
  • hilly (16-30%)
  • steep (31-60%)
  • very steep (>60%)
Landforms
  • plateau/plains
  • ridges
  • mountain slopes
  • hill slopes
  • footslopes
  • valley floors
Altitude
  • 0-100 m a.s.l.
  • 101-500 m a.s.l.
  • 501-1,000 m a.s.l.
  • 1,001-1,500 m a.s.l.
  • 1,501-2,000 m a.s.l.
  • 2,001-2,500 m a.s.l.
  • 2,501-3,000 m a.s.l.
  • 3,001-4,000 m a.s.l.
  • > 4,000 m a.s.l.
Technology is applied in
  • convex situations
  • concave situations
  • not relevant
Soil depth
  • very shallow (0-20 cm)
  • shallow (21-50 cm)
  • moderately deep (51-80 cm)
  • deep (81-120 cm)
  • very deep (> 120 cm)
Soil texture (topsoil)
  • coarse/ light (sandy)
  • medium (loamy, silty)
  • fine/ heavy (clay)
Soil texture (> 20 cm below surface)
  • coarse/ light (sandy)
  • medium (loamy, silty)
  • fine/ heavy (clay)
Topsoil organic matter content
  • high (>3%)
  • medium (1-3%)
  • low (<1%)
Groundwater table
  • on surface
  • < 5 m
  • 5-50 m
  • > 50 m
Availability of surface water
  • excess
  • good
  • medium
  • poor/ none
Water quality (untreated)
  • good drinking water
  • poor drinking water (treatment required)
  • for agricultural use only (irrigation)
  • unusable
Water quality refers to:
Is salinity a problem?
  • Ja
  • Nee

Occurrence of flooding
  • Ja
  • Nee
Species diversity
  • high
  • medium
  • low
Habitat diversity
  • high
  • medium
  • low

Characteristics of land users applying the Technology

Market orientation
  • subsistence (self-supply)
  • mixed (subsistence/ commercial)
  • commercial/ market
Off-farm income
  • less than 10% of all income
  • 10-50% of all income
  • > 50% of all income
Relative level of wealth
  • very poor
  • poor
  • average
  • rich
  • very rich
Level of mechanization
  • manual work
  • animal traction
  • mechanized/ motorized
Sedentary or nomadic
  • Sedentary
  • Semi-nomadic
  • Nomadic
Individuals or groups
  • individual/ household
  • groups/ community
  • cooperative
  • employee (company, government)
Gender
  • women
  • men
Age
  • children
  • youth
  • middle-aged
  • elderly
Area used per household
  • < 0.5 ha
  • 0.5-1 ha
  • 1-2 ha
  • 2-5 ha
  • 5-15 ha
  • 15-50 ha
  • 50-100 ha
  • 100-500 ha
  • 500-1,000 ha
  • 1,000-10,000 ha
  • > 10,000 ha
Scale
  • small-scale
  • medium-scale
  • large-scale
Land ownership
  • state
  • company
  • communal/ village
  • group
  • individual, not titled
  • individual, titled
Land use rights
  • open access (unorganized)
  • communal (organized)
  • leased
  • individual
Water use rights
  • open access (unorganized)
  • communal (organized)
  • leased
  • individual
Access to services and infrastructure
health

poor
good
education

poor
good
technical assistance

poor
good
employment (e.g. off-farm)

poor
good
markets

poor
good
energy

poor
good
roads and transport

poor
good
drinking water and sanitation

poor
good
financial services

poor
good

Impacts

Socio-economic impacts
Crop production
decreased
increased

land management
hindered
simplified

demand for irrigation water
increased
decreased

expenses on agricultural inputs
increased
decreased

workload
increased
decreased


About 0 since labour constrains increased and workload decreased

Socio-cultural impacts
health situation
worsened
improved

recreational opportunities
reduced
improved

Improved livelihoods and human well-being
reduced
improved

Ecological impacts
water quality
decreased
increased

evaporation
increased
decreased

soil moisture
decreased
increased

biomass/ above ground C
decreased
increased

plant diversity
decreased
increased

animal diversity
decreased
increased

beneficial species (predators, earthworms, pollinators)
decreased
increased

habitat diversity
decreased
increased

pest/ disease control
decreased
increased

Off-site impacts

Cost-benefit analysis

Benefits compared with establishment costs
Short-term returns
very negative
very positive

Long-term returns
very negative
very positive

Benefits compared with maintenance costs
Short-term returns
very negative
very positive

Long-term returns
very negative
very positive

Climate change

Climate-related extremes (disasters)
local rainstorm

not well at all
very well
drought

not well at all
very well
general (river) flood

not well at all
very well

Adoption and adaptation

Percentage of land users in the area who have adopted the Technology
  • single cases/ experimental
  • 1-10%
  • 11-50%
  • > 50%
Of all those who have adopted the Technology, how many have done so without receiving material incentives?
  • 0-10%
  • 11-50%
  • 51-90%
  • 91-100%
Number of households and/ or area covered
70 familes (90 percent of the area)
Has the Technology been modified recently to adapt to changing conditions?
  • Ja
  • Nee
To which changing conditions?
  • climatic change/ extremes
  • changing markets
  • labour availability (e.g. due to migration)

Conclusions and lessons learnt

Strengths: land user's view
  • Farmers save money by reducing pesticide use

    How can they be sustained / enhanced? Present research study results to farmers
  • Ceasing or reducing pesticide use improves farmers' health

    How can they be sustained / enhanced? Educate farmers in the harmful effects of pesticide use
Strengths: compiler’s or other key resource person’s view
  • Enhances biodiversity in rice ecosystem

    How can they be sustained / enhanced? Continue demonstration
Weaknesses/ disadvantages/ risks: land user's viewhow to overcome
  • Additional work for farmers Incorporate activities in traditional rice growing activities
  • To achieve maximum impact, neighboring farmers and fields should also reduce the use of pesticides and agro-chemicals A management plan for the whole area needs to be developed
Weaknesses/ disadvantages/ risks: compiler’s or other key resource person’s viewhow to overcome
  • Does not solve all problems with pests, i.e. pest outbreaks are still possible Develop integrated pest management, e.g. use pesticides only in emergencies, and/or develop an insurance system for farmers.

References

Compiler
  • Martin Wiemers
Editors
Reviewer
  • David Streiff
  • Deborah Niggli
  • Alexandra Gavilano
Date of documentation: Mei 19, 2016
Last update: Junie 13, 2019
Resource persons
Full description in the WOCAT database
Linked SLM data
Documentation was faciliated by
Institution Project
Key references
  • Westphal, C. et al. (2015) Promoting multiple ecosystem services with flower strips and participatory approaches in rice production landscapes: http://dx.doi.org/doi:10.1016/j.baae.2015.10.004
  • LEGATO website: http://legato-project.net/
This work is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareaAlike 4.0 International