Abstract
The purpose of this chapter is to present how agent-based models can be used for the diffusion of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) information in small scale farmer communities, using the potato tuber moth in the North Andean region as a study case. This issue was addressed through an international project called INNOMIP (INNOvación en el Manejo Integrado de Plagas, 2009–2012, funded by the McKnight Foundation), which operated in three Andean countries (Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia). This project involved scientists from a broad range of disciplines, from agronomists to modelers to extensionists. With the specific objective of proposing innovative IPM extension tools, we first developed a role-playing game relying on an agent-based model to simulate the consequences of individual behaviors on pest control in a theoretical landscape. We then tried this role-playing game with 90 farmers belonging to 6 communities in three countries. Briefly, the training sessions consisted of a board game where farmers could exchange and discuss information about IPM practices and visualize the benefits of IPM adoption and cooperation within a theoretical landscape. Based on farmer interviews and comparison of IPM level of knowledge before and after the sessions, our study suggests that the role-playing game sessions significantly increased the IPM knowledge score in the community and also reduced farmers’ knowledge heterogeneity. Moreover, our analyses suggest that farmers’ age and extension experience significantly affected role-playing game success, with younger participants (and among them, those with higher initial knowledge) more inclined to increase their IPM knowledge after the session. While we have no evidence of the long (mid)-term benefits of our sessions in the adoption/changes of IPM practices, farmers revealed themselves more predisposed to understand and realize the importance of the cooperative basis of IPM and therefore disseminate to their peers IPM information they had acquired. At a broader scale, this study exemplifies how a computer simulation model can be used for teaching purposes and may represent a promising complement to existing IPM diffusion programs. More broadly, our experience with ABM (Agent-Based Models) for IPM issues suggests that new approaches in pest management extension practices should include topics such as group decision making, intergroup relations, commitment, and persuasion which deal directly with how other farmers influence each other’s thoughts and actions and consequently with the level of insect infestation in the community.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Bale, J. S., Masters, G. J., Hodkinson, I. D., Awmack, C., Bezemer, T. M., Brown, V. K., Butterfield, J. E. L., Buse, A., Coulson, J. C., Farrar, J., Good, J. E. G., Harrington, R., Hartley, S., Jones, H., Lindroth, R. L., Press, M. C., Symrnioudis, I., Watt, A. D., & Whittaker, J. B. (2002). Herbivory in global climate change research: Direct effects of rising temperatures on insect herbivores. Global Change Biology, 8(1), 1–16.
Barnaud, C., Bousquet, F., & Trebuil, G. (2008). Multi-agent simulations to explore rules for rural credit in a highland farming community of Northern Thailand. Ecological Economics, 66(4), 615–627.
Bass, F. M. (1969). A new product growth model for consumer durables. Management Science, 15.
Becu, N., Perez, P., Walker, A., Barreteau, O., & Le Page, C. (2003). Agent based simulation of a small catchment water management in northern Thailand: Description of the CATCHSCAPE model. Ecological Modelling, 170(2–3), 319–331.
Bonabeau, E. (2002). Agent-based modeling: Methods and techniques for simulating human systems. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 99(3), 7280–7287.
Bonaudo, T., Bommel, P., & Tourrand, J. F. (2005). Modelling the pioneers fronts of the transamazon highway region. In SMAGET, multi-agent modelling for environmental management. France: Bourg St Maurice.
Bousquet, F., Barreteau, O., Le Page, C., Mullon, C., & Weber, J. (1999). An environmental modelling approach: The use of multi-agent simulations. In F. Blasco & A. Weill (Eds.), Advances in environmental and ecological modelling. France: Elsevier.
Bousquet, F., Le Page, C., Bakam, I., & Takforyan, A. (2001). A spatially explicit individual-based model of blue duikers population dynamics: Multi-agent simulation of bushmeat hunting in an eastern cameroonian village. Ecological Modelling, 138(1–3), 331–346.
Carrasco, L. R., Cook, D., Baker, R., MacLeod, A., Knight, J. D., & Mumford, J. D. (2012). Towards the integration of spread and economic impacts of biological invasions in a landscape of learning and imitating agents. Ecological Economics, 76(0), 95–103.
Chapin, F. S., Kofinas, G. P., & Folke, C. (2009). Principles of ecosystem stewardship: Resilience-based natural resource management in a changing world (pp. 401). Springer.
Crespo-Pérez, V., Rebaudo, F., Silvain, J. F., & Dangles, O. (2011). Modeling invasive species spread in complex landscapes: The case of potato moth in Ecuador. Landscape Ecology, 26(10), 1447–1461.
Dangles, O., Carpio, C., Barragan, A., Zeddam, J.-L., & Silvain, J.-F. (2008). Temperature as a key driver of ecological sorting among invasive pest species in the tropical Andes. Ecological Applications, 18(7), 1795–1809.
Dangles, O., Carpio, F., Villares, M., Yumisaca, F., Liger, B., Rebaudo, F., & Silvain, J. F. (2010). Community-based participatory research helps farmers and scientists to manage invasive pests in the Ecuadorian Andes. AMBIO: A Journal of the Human Environment, 39(4), 325–335.
Dangles, O., Mesías, V., Crespo-Perez, V., & Silvain, J. F. (2009). Crop damage increases with pest species diversity: Evidence from potato tuber moths in the tropical Andes. Journal of Applied Ecology, 46(5), 1115–1121.
Daudé, E. (2003). Apports de la simulation multi-agents à l’étude des processus de diffusion. 6èmes Rencontres de Théo Quant. Besançon. France.
Dray, A., Perez, P., Jones, N., Le Page, C., D’Aquino, P., White, I., & Auatabu, T. (2006). The atollGame experience: From knowledge engineering to a computer-assisted role playing game. Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation, 9(1), 6.
Feder, G., Murgai, R., & Quizon, J. B. (2004). The acquisition and diffusion of knowledge: The case of pest management training in farmer field schools, Indonesia. Journal of Agricultural Economics, 55(2), 221–243.
Feder, G., & Savastano, S. (2006). The role of opinion leaders in the diffusion of new knowledge: The case of integrated pest management. World Development, 34(7), 1287–1300.
Firbank, L. G., Petit, S., Smart, S., Blain, A., & Fuller, R. J. (2008). Assessing the impacts of agricultural intensification on biodiversity: A British perspective. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 363, 777–787.
Fowler, J. H., & Christakis, N. A. (2010). Cooperative behavior cascades in human social networks. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 107(12), 5334–5338.
Gelman, A., & Hill, J. (2007). Data analysis using regression and multilevel/hierarchical models. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Gregory, P. J., Johnson, S. N., Newton, A. C., & Ingram, J. S. I. (2009). Integrating pests and pathogens into the climate change/food security debate. Journal of Experimental Botany, 60(10), 2827–2838.
Grimm, V., Revilla, E., Berger, U., Jeltsch, F., Mooij, W. M., Railsback, S. F., Thulke, H. H., Weiner, J., Wiegand, T., & DeAngelis, D. L. (2005). Pattern-oriented modeling of agent-based complex systems: Lessons from ecology. Science, 310(5750), 987–991.
Guyot, P., & Honiden, S. (2006). Agent-based participatory simulations: Merging multi-agent systems and role-playing games. Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation, 9(4), 8.
Hagen, S. B., Jepsen, J. U., Ims, R. A., & Yoccoz, N. G. (2007). Shifting altitudinal distribution of outbreak zones of winter moth Operophtera brumata in sub-arctic birch forest: A response to recent climate warming? Ecography, 30(2), 299–307.
Hodkinson, I. D. (2005). Terrestrial insects along elevation gradients: Species and community responses to altitude. Biological Reviews, 80(3), 489–513.
Hufnagl-Eichiner, S., Wolf, S. A., & Drinkwater, L. E. (2011). Assessing social–ecological coupling: Agriculture and hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico. Global Environmental Change, 21(2), 530–539.
Jacobson, S. K., McDuff, M. D., & Monroe, M. C. (2006). Conservation education and outreach techniques (pp. 480). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Kuandykov, L., & Sokolov, M. (2010). Impact of social neighborhood on diffusion of innovation S-curve. Decision Support Systems, 48(4), 531–535.
Liu, J., Dietz, T., Carpenter, S. R., Alberti, M., Folke, C., Moran, E., Pell, A. N., Deadman, P., Kratz, T., Lubchenco, J., Ostrom, E., Ouyang, Z., Provencher, W., Redman, C. L., Schneider, S. H., & Taylor, W. W. (2007). Complexity of coupled human and natural systems. Science, 317, 1513–1516.
Macy, M. W., & Willer, R. (2002). From factors to actors: Computational sociology and agent-based modeling. Annual Review of Sociology, 28, 143–166.
Mahajan, V., Muller, E., & Bass, F. (1990). New product diffusion models in marketing: A review and directions for research. Journal of Marketing, 54(1).
Mason, W. A., Conrey, F. R., & Smith, E. R. (2007). Situating social influence processes: Dynamic, multidirectional flows of influence within social networks. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 11(3), 279–300.
Mathevet, R., Le Page, C., Etienne, M., Lefebvre, G., Poulin, B., Gigot, G., Proréol, S., & Mauchamp, A. (2007). BUTORSTAR: A role-playing game for collective awareness of wise reedbed use. Simulation & Gaming, 38(2), 233–262.
Matteson, P. C. (2000). Insect pest management in tropical Asian irrigated rice. Annual Review of Entomology, 45, 549–574.
Montanari, A., & Saberi, A. (2010). The spread of innovations in social networks. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 107(47), 20196–20201.
Nwilene, F. E., Nwanze, K. F., & Youdeowei, A. (2008). Impact of integrated pest management on food and horticultural crops in Africa. Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata, 128(3), 355–363.
Oerke, E. (2005). Centenary review: Crop losses to pests. The Journal of Agricultural Science, 144(1), 31–43.
Paredes, M. (2010). Peasants, potatoes and pesticides. Heterogeneity in the context of agricultural modernisation in the highland Andes of Ecuador. Wageningen University, published doctoral dissertation.
Parker, D. C., Manson, S. M., Janssen, M. A., Hoffmann, M. J., & Deadman, P. (2003). Multi-agent systems for the simulation of land-use and land-cover change: A review. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 93(2), 314–337.
Perez, C., Nicklin, C., Dangles, O., Vanek, S., Sherwood, S. G., Halloy, S., Garrett, K. A., & Forbes, G. A. (2010). Climate change in the high Andes: Implications and adaptation strategies for small-scale farmers. The International Journal of Environmental, Cultural, Economic and Social Sustainability, 6, 71–88.
Peshin, R., Vasanthakumar, J., & Karla, R. (2009). Diffusion of innovation theory and integrated pest management. In R. Peshin & A. K. Dhawan (Eds.), Integrated pest management: Dissemination and impact (Vol. 2). Dordrecht, the Netherlands: Springer
Pollet, A., Barragán, A., & Iturralde, B. P. (2003). Conozca y maneje la polilla de la papa (Tecia solanivora). Centro de Biodiversidad y Ambiente, Escuela de Biología, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador, Serie Divulgación 3.
Pumisacho, M., & Sherwood, S. (2005). Guía Metodológica sobre ECAs: escuelas de campo de agricultores. Quito: FAO/CIP/INIAP/WN.
R Development Core Team. (2009). R: A language and environment for statistical computing. Vienna: R Foundation for Statistical Computing. http://cran.r-project.org/.
Rebaudo, F., Crespo-Pérez, V., Silvain, J. F., & Dangles, O. (2010). Agent-based modeling of human-induced spread of invasive species in agricultural landscapes: Insights from the potato moth in Ecuador. Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation, 14(3), 7.
Rebaudo, F., & Dangles, O. (2011). Coupled information diffusion–pest dynamics models predict delayed benefits of farmer cooperation in pest management programs. PLoS Computational Biology 7(10), e1002222. doi:10.1371/journal.pcbi.1002222.
Rebaudo, F., & Dangles, O. (2013). An agent-based modeling framework for integrated pest management dissemination programs. Environmental Modelling and Software, 45, 141–149. DOI: 10.1016/j.envsoft.2012.06.014.
Rogers, E. M. (2003). Diffusion of innovations (5th edn.). New York: The Free Press.
Smajgl, A., Brown, D. G., Valbuena, D., & Huigen, M. G. A. (2011). Empirical characterization of agent behaviours in socio-ecological systems. Environmental Modelling and Software, 26(7), 837–844.
Smith, E. R., & Conrey, F. R. (2007). Agent-based modeling: A new approach for theory building in social psychology. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 11(1), 87–104.
Speelman, E. N., & García-Barrios, L. E. (2010). Agrodiversity v.2: An educational simulation tool to address some challenges for sustaining functional agrodiversity in agro-ecosystems. Ecological Modelling, 221(6), 911–918.
Thiele, G., van de Fliert, E., & Campilan, D. (2001). What happened to participatory research at the International Potato Center? Agriculture and Human Values, 18(4), 429–446.
Thomas, M. B. (1999). Ecological approaches and the development of “truly integrated” pest management. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 96(11), 5944–5951.
Urbig, D., Lorenz, J., & Herzberg, H. (2008). Opinion dynamics: The effect of the number of peers met at once. Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation, 11(2), 4.
van der Meulen, H. A. B., de Snoo, G. R., & Wossink, G. A. A. (1996). Farmers’ perception of unsprayed crop edges in the Netherlands. Journal of Environmental Management, 47(3), 241–255.
Young, R., & Lipton, J. K. (2006). Adaptive governance and climate change in the tropical highlands of western South America climate change. Climatic Change, 78(1), 63–102.
Ziegler, A. D., Fox, J. M., Webb, E. L., Padoch, C., Leisz, S. J., Cramb, R. A., Mertz, O., Bruun, T. B., & Vien, T. D. (2011). Recognizing contemporary roles of swidden agriculture in transforming landscapes of Southeast Asia. Conservation Biology, 25(4), 846–848.
Acknowledgements
This work was conducted within the project ‘‘Innovative Approaches for Integrated Pest Management in Changing Andes’’ (C09-031) funded by the McKnight Foundation. We are grateful to all farmers who participated to the training sessions and to all members of the McKnight Foundation’s Andean community of practices for useful discussions. We warmly thank Carlos Perez and Claire Nicklin for useful comments and English editing on a preliminary version of the manuscript.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2014 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Rebaudo, F. et al. (2014). Agent-Based Models and Integrated Pest Management Diffusion in Small Scale Farmer Communities. In: Peshin, R., Pimentel, D. (eds) Integrated Pest Management. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7802-3_15
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7802-3_15
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-007-7801-6
Online ISBN: 978-94-007-7802-3
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)