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CARE's Integrated Pest Management (IPM) activities promote crop protection by fostering, above all, healthy and well nourished crops, continuous observation of field conditions by farmers, and increased awareness by farmers of agroecological linkages among insects, animals, plants and humans. CARE fosters the farmers' detailed knowledge of the biological and ecological make-up of diseases in plants, and encourages farmers to experiment with ways to protect their crops. In most cases, pests are controlled through the direct action of the pests' natural enemies. CARE's methods also include inter-cropping with plants that are hosts to beneficial insects, using plants with insecticide properties, and bacterial and viral pesticides. Occasionally less-toxic chemical pesticides are also used. In 1992, CARE became the first U.S. non-governmental organization to adopt a comprehensive pesticide policy banning the purchase and distribution of toxic pesticides (Class IA and B of the World Health Organization classification). In 2000, CARE has 44 projects throughout the world with an integrated pest management emphasis.
In Bangladesh, CARE's Integrated Rice Fish Project works withapproximately 90,000 farmers in Rangpur and Jessore, promoting regenerativerice cultivation technologies. Farmers learn about paddy field ecology, natural pest management and the effects of chemical pesticides of the environment and rice-fish cultivation. Activities include cropping rice field dikes with vegetable and tree crops, as well as the use of low-external input rice production technologies. Through the project, farmers increase their supply of rice as well as vegetables and fish.
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