Hawaii IPM Program Overview
1998-2001 GPRA Performance Plan

Ronald F. L. Mau
Hawaii IPM Coordinator
Department of Entomology
College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources
University of Hawaii at Manoa


Return Home Hawaii’s agriculture continues to be a strong sector of the diversified economic base of the state.  Nearly one in 15 jobs in the state is directly or indirectly related to agriculture.  Agriculture continues to change.  Diversification is a keyword for the industry.  The sugar industry was downsized greatly during the past five years and occurs primarily on the islands of Maui and Kauai.  Pineapple acreage declined about 15% percent during the same period, but the industry appears to have stabilized.  The combined aggregate returns from commodities other than sugar and pineapple have exceeded the returns from those two crops beginning in 1992 and continuing to the present.  Urbanization has also intensified due to population and economic pressures.  The Hawaii Agricultural Statistics Service reported in the 1995 Statistics of Hawaiian Agriculture that there are 151,200 acres in crop.

In general, IPM research has slowed due shrinking budget resources. The poor fiscal situation resulted in downsizing of the college’s faculty.  Many positions vacated by retirements and other reasons were eliminated and operating funds reduced greatly.

Pests and diseases remain significant bottlenecks in maintaining the economic viability of the diversified agricultural sector.  Producers continue to desire “silver bullet” pesticide solutions. Since all crops grown in Hawaii are classified as minor crops for pesticide registration purposes, the implementation of the Food Quality Protection Act is certain to create huge challenges when minor crops registrations are cancelled.

PROGRAM THRUSTS.  Two program thrusts are described below.  They are IPM implementation on 75 percent of Hawaii’s crop acres; and IPM education and technology transfer.

1.0. IPM IMPLEMENTATION ON 75 PERCENT OF HAWAII’S CROP ACRES.  IPM implementation on 75% of Hawaii’s active crop lands. Our highest priority is implementation to meet President Clinton’s goal for IPM implementation on 75 percent of crop acres. Four crops were selected for the Hawaii 1998-2001 performance plan.  The crops are pineapple, macadamia, banana, and sugarcane.  Program implementation for all of the crops will utilize the certification model used by extension programs in northeastern states.  University and industry experts will assemble IPM programs for each crop.  Each of the practices in the program will be given application points.  Certification will be given if the grower has accrued 80% of total possible points.

2.0. IPM EDUCATION.  There are three components of the UH IPM education program.  They are 1) annual staff training and planning conferences; 2) special grants support of IPM technology transfer and demonstration projects; and 3) computer-based educational materials program.

 2.1. IN-SERVICE AND STAKE HOLDER EDUCATION.  UH IPM organizes annual in-service training and planning conferences.  These meetings are designed to provide extension workers and other faculty with project updates and timely recommendations.  Moreover, due to geographic constraints of an island state, the meetings serve to provide a venue for the formation of technology transfer projects by researchers and extension workers.

 2.2. SPECIAL GRANTS SUPPORT FOR IPM TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER AND DEMONSTRATION PROJECTS. The IPM implementation projects that are described above involve crops grown on a significant portion of crop lands but relatively few growers.  A special grants program was established to educate growers across the state.  Most of the projects will be carried out by agricultural extension agents and will utilize the field demonstration method.  The objective of these projects is to demonstrate, transfer, and promote adoption of non-chemical practices that are effective in managing pests and pathogens.  The Hawaii performance goal is to annually increase producer adoption of agricultural production practices that retain or enhance production yields without an increase or with a decrease in the use of pesticides that adversely impact the environment.  Indicator, output, and outcome statements differ among the projects.  Funded projects include biofumigation of nematodes for pineapple; adoption of fusarium wilt resistance varieties in basil production; adoption of phytophthora blight tolerant taro cultivars; and adoption of hot water treatment for insect control on propagative stock and as a export treatment for insect pests of cut flowers.

 2.3. COMPUTER-BASED EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS. One of Extension’s challenges is to provide faculty and clients with accurate, timely information in a cost effective manner.  This was articulated by the Extension Committee on Organization and Policy (ECOP) in the paper Meeting the Needs of 21st Century Agriculture -- Extension’s Role.

Access to the World Wide Web has grown significantly during the past two years and nearly all of our faculty have access to the internet. UH IPM developed a computer knowledgebase for entomology and plant pathology that was available on CDROM discs.  The information has been placed on a web-server and is being evaluated.  UH IPM will continue to work with faculty add to the knowledgebase and to improve World Wide Web delivery to end-users.  In addition to help growers use the resources from the UC IPM Web site, we will join with extension faculty to give training sessions.

Knowledge Master WebSite address: http://www.extento.hawaii.edu

INTERNAL LINKAGES
State and county extension staff who are interested participating in IPM education have been identified.  These staff will participate on special grants education projects and to incorporate IPM education in their extension activities.  State extension coordinators for Water Quality, Pesticide Impact Assessment, and IR-4 programs will be included in some of the education programs.

EXTERNAL LINKAGES
Key linkages exist with industry and other organizations.  Linkages have been established with the Hawaii Farm Bureau Federation, Hawaii Agricultural Research Corporation, and the Hawaii Department of Agriculture (HDOA).  Other anticipated external linkages are USDA NRCS, USDA ARS, USDA APHIS, and the USDA DWRC.

"../_private/1995.htm">1995 Annual Report(removed)

"../_private/1996.htm">1996 Annual Report(removed)

"../_private/1998.htm">1998-2001 GPRA Performance Plan (Narrative Only)(removed)

"../_private/hawaii.htm">1998 Accomplishment Report (Narrative Only)(removed)