The GTZ commitment to substituting MB is integrated in the network of international implementing agencies involved in this area. Activities are coordinated with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) which is the umbrella organisation for activities concerning the MP and with the other three agencies with a mandate to implement projects: United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) and the World Bank. GTZ is responsible for the use of the funds for bilateral assistance provided by the Federal Republic of Germany within the multilateral fund (Germany being the third largest contributor to the MF with more than 10 Million USD p.a.); this assistance equals 20 % of the German Government's contribution to this fund.
Future GTZ programmes will be implemented on the basis of its international experience and presence in the majority of developing countries. They will concentrate on the non-investment sector. GTZ will assist its partner countries to develop and implement MB management plans (MMPs). These plans will include:
Training activities will be geared towards specific needs in substituting MB. Following the "focal point" approach, the main cooperation partners will be the Ozone Officers in the partner countries.
Future GTZ training programmes to substitute MB will cover the whole world, but will focus initially on Southern and Eastern Africa, the Middle East and Central America.
Altogether, more than a dozen countries (Angola, Botswana, Ethiopia, Lesotho, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe) have agreed to join in a regional project. Malawi, the Republic of South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe together consume around half of the continent's MB. Most of it is used to fumigate soil in tobacco, cut flowerflowers flowers, fruit and vegetable production.
In the Middle East, considerable amounts of MB are used for soil and other treatments. GTZ has a well-established network of bilateral projects working in this sub-region. In Jordan and Syria, GTZ has already activities related to the substitution of MB. Other countries involved will be Egypt, Lebanon and Yemen.
In Central America, similar conditions apply to the choice as a priority region for intervention as in the Middle East. Cooperating countries will include El Salvador, Honduras and Panama.
Priority areas for GTZ intervention in the near future are soil disinfestation in strawberry, tobacco, flowerflowers flowers and vegetable production including seedbedsseedbeds seedbeds and nurseriesnurseries nurseries and post-harvest treatment of durables like cereals, cocoa and others (including storage facilities and transport vehicles ). Permanent monitoring and quality control will become of more importance in pest control operations (van S. Graver, 1997). This means that farmers and pest control operators need to be trained in diagnostic techniques, establishing action thresholds and decision making in crop and post-harvest management.
Inspired by the example of the Australian Government (Environment Australia, 1997), GTZ proposes the substitution of MB for soil treatments in three steps:
This step-wise procedure contributes to develop locally adapted solutions that are sustainable and avoid any double investment trap like proposals concerning mechanised low-dose MB injection or recovering technology for soil treatments. These technologies entail significant investments in MB-related equipment.
Biomass burning includes burning of tropical forests, savannah and grasslands and is estimated to emit 10 000 to 50 000 t of MB per year. The proportion of burning initiated by man is more than 80 % (Miller in Bell & al., 1996). In most cases fires are set in order to clear land for agricultural production but fires without a special purpose are a common sight in many tropical countries. Deliberate burning is practised by both companies and individual farmers. In order to limit such harmful activities, training and extension units on this topic will be designed.
The training programme will be based on participatory approaches used by GTZ for many years. It will include the following steps:
During participatory regional workshops to be conducted in cooperation with DSE-ZEL, training and applied research programmes will be planned in the near future. Participants should include representatives of governmental institutions in developing countries where MB is used (e.g. plant protection and quarantine services), donor and development agencies, agricultural research institutions, the agro-pesticide industry, companies offering pest control services including fumigation, big plantations, chambers of agriculture, trade companies and non-governmental organisations specialising in environmental issues related to agro-chemicals (e.g. PAN and Friends of the Earth).
Elaboration of the contents will take into account the framework conditions in the respective countries (agricultural production systems, climatic conditions, infrastructure, economic situation), the specific needs of the users, the professional level of the target groups, the cost, effectiveness, ease and safety of application of alternative methods and the state-of-the-art in MB substitution.
The training objective is to implement integrated crop production systems. It will be necessary to make the growers more familiar with major pest and disease problems that are currently controlled by MB. This involves quantitative diagnosis and decision-making concerning the best IPM option. Knowledge about the soil and other conditions that influence treatments and application techniques will also be major topics. Apart from the growers, major target groups include other users and trainers.
The training will be practically oriented with much of the work carried out in the field. The GTZ Plant Protection and Post-harvest Section has considerable experience with participatory technology development approaches that will facilitate MB substitution.
Due to the immediate impact on the environment and the model character for countries with lower consumption, work will start in countries with a considerable potential for substituting MB. Activities will focus on easily feasible alternatives for the most important MB applications.
Training work will be monitored and evaluated in order to document the impact in terms of the quantities of MB replaced and to fine-tune future training activities. GTZ has developed appropriate M&E instruments that have been used successfully in its projects since many years. These instruments are increasingly being adopted by the international donor community.
Practically oriented training manuals will be developed within this programme. They will be translated into the major languages of the target countries (Arabic, English, Spanish and, if appropriate, French and Portuguese). They will be designed according to the specific regional requirements and the needs of the target groups.
At the same time, applied research activities will be supported in close cooperation with implementing agencies such as UNDP, UNEP, UNIDO and the World Bank and with national and international research institutions. Within the framework of demonstration projects, promising techniques will be tested in the specific conditions of A5 countries. These activities will be oriented towards the principle of ownership in order to guarantee the motivation of the involved parties.
The topics for applied research activities will be determined in participatory workshops with representatives of MB user groups and scientists. Measures are to focus on the development of integrated schemes, for example, combining solarisation with the inoculation of beneficial microorganisms in soil treatment for tropical countries, use of disease-suppressive compost and green manures or implementing and testing quality assurance systems.
Research topics will be designed to give practically applicable results over a short period (maximum: 3 to 4 years) so that the results can be included in training programmes in the near future and promoted and implemented before the year 2015.
Possible partners for research activities include national research centres such as the Institut Agronomique et Vétérinaire Hassan II in Morocco or the Institute for Stored Product Protection of the Federal Biological Research Centre for Agriculture and Forestry 2 in Germany, universities and international research institutes, e.g. the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in Nigeria and Benin, other CGIAR institutes or the International Centre for Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE) in Kenya.
International implementing agencies such as UNDP, UNEP, UNIDO and the World Bank or organisations devoted to bilateral technical cooperation like the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), the French Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (CIRAD), the British Natural Resources Institute (NRI) and others may also be involved in applied research carried out under the responsibility of the technical cooperation of the Federal Republic of Germany.
2 Biologische Bundesanstalt für Land- und Forstwirtschaft, Institut für Vorratsschutz
