ETHNOSCIENCE AND BIODIVERSITY - KEY ELEMENTS IN THE DESIGN OF SUSTAINABLE PEST-MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS FOR SMALL FARMERS IN DEVELOPING-COUNTRIES

Biodiversity is a salient feature of traditional farming systems in developing countries and performs a variety of renewal processes and ecological services in agroecosystems. It is of fundamental importance to understand the role biodiversity can play in reducing pest problems, if vegetation management is to be used effectively as a primary IPM tactic in small-scale sustainable agriculture. The maintenance of biodiversity in traditional agroecosystems is not random, but depends on a complex set of indigenous technical knowledge systems (ethnoscience). Thus, the ensemble of traditional crop protection practices used by indigenous farmers represents a rich resource for modem workers seeking to create IPM systems that are well adapted to the agroecological, cultural and socio-economic circumstances facing small farmers throughout the developing world.