Who are we?
What do we do?
What is our goal?
What is our mission?
Who are our beneficiaries?
What outputs do we expect to deliver?
How will we disseminate the outputs?
What are the outcomes of our research?
What impact do we expect to achieve?

Who are we?

The Systemwide Program on Integrated Pest Management (SP-IPM) is a global group of scientists and institutions that spearheads forward-looking research and outreach programs on crop pest and disease management by pulling together the individual strengths and expertise of several CGIAR centers and their partners.

What do we do?

We aim to develop knowledge and technologies for innovative crop protection to increase and secure the production of safe food in an environmentally and economically sound way. Collaborative research is carried out among CGIAR centers and partner institutions to provide valuable economies of scale by drawing on the distinct knowledge, expertise, research, and other competencies of each partner institution to avoid duplication of efforts, and to achieve synergistic effects with regards to relevance of research outcomes and impact.

Our research addresses current and future challenges including food scarcity, increased pest pressure, and declining soil health, and is targeted at three main research areas:

• Adapting IPM to climate variability and change
• Improving agroecosystem resilience
• Managing contaminants in food, feed, and the environment.

 

In these areas our IPM research strives to gain a better understanding of the manifold biotic and abiotic interrelationships between the different components of agricultural biodiversity.

A holistic approach to IPM is taken which requires examination of important plant interactions with both detrimental and beneficial organisms in the environment in which they flourish.

These research areas will be further strengthened by multidisciplinary cooperation with other scientific disciplines and by expanding knowledge on IPM technologies through capacity building in the National Agricultural Research Systems (NARS) in cooperating countries and at the farmer level.

 

What is our goal?

SP-IPM’s ultimate goal is to contribute to reducing poverty and hunger in low-income nations by improving established methods and developing new practices of pest and disease control techniques that improve soil, root and plant health to raise productivity, ensure a supply of safe food and feed and to increase the marketability of agricultural produce.

What is our mission?

SP-IPM’s mission is to make a significant contribution to the development of more productive and healthy agro-ecosystems through technological innovation and adaptation for improved pest and disease management.

Who are our beneficiaries?

Since SP-IPM aims to contribute to reducing hunger and poverty in rural and urban populations, especially in developing countries, our ultimate beneficiaries are farmers of all income groups of both genders – those who feed themselves and small communities, and those who are responsible for feeding wider and urban populations. These include subsistence, smallholder and commercial farmers who will adopt new IPM crop protection technologies to:

• reduce production costs
• increase production yield
• ensure food and feed safety
• increase income through improved marketability, and
• promote agricultural biodiversity.

SP-IPM empowers these groups by providing innovative solutions to globally relevant challenges in pest management.

Our primary beneficiaries include scientists from International Agriculture Research Centers (IARC) and National Agricultural Research and Extension Systems (NARES) who apply the research results in their own research for developing country and pest specific IPM strategies. In addition, policy and decision makers will benefit from SP-IPM through the recommendations derived from the research results. These will enable them to make informed decisions and to adopt constructive and enabling policies that affect our ultimate beneficiaries.

What outputs do we expect to deliver?

The outputs from our research include:

1. New knowledge and innovative technologies that provide IPM options to International Agriculture Research Center (IARC) and National Agricultural Research and Extension System (NARES) scientists and IPM promoters
2. Outreach programs, learning tools and guidelines on applying the new technologies
3. IPM briefing reports and other scientific publications that inform research managers, policy makers and decision makers in the public and private sector, and investment agencies.

How will we disseminate the outputs?

To inform scientists of the latest methods and concepts developed by SP-IPM partners and others, SP-IPM will organize a Rotational Advanced Training and Knowledge Exchange Program at member centers in different countries. This program will allow National Agricultural Research and Extension System (NARES) scientists and other agencies involved in IPM implementation to expand their knowledge beyond that existing in their respective institutions by familiarizing them with the most up-to-date IPM strategies and developments. It will expose a large number of scientists to the new technologies needed to solve plant protection problems on an international scale.

We will organize and actively participate in international fora to exchange knowledge and research outcomes that inform the wider scientific community and decision makers. We will also stimulate and take part in policy debates to better inform policy.

In addition, SP-IPM will disseminate IPM research results and recommendations worldwide by coordinating online resources that provide information and learning experiences in plant protection. We will also take an active part in disseminating the transfer of this knowledge to farmers at all levels of development, focusing on their needs and desires.

Read about the outcomes of our research