Evaluating Dissemination and Impact of IPM: Lessons from Case Studies of Potato and Sweetpotato IPM in Peru and Other Latin American Countries

Integrated Pest Management (IPM) programs have been implemented in Latin American for several decades. Examples in the case of Peru include the successful IPM programs for cotton, citrus, olives, sugar cane and potatoes. However, impact assessment of such programs has not been common. Most of the IPM programs, except the potato case, did not include formal impact assessments neither efforts to document lessons about program implementation and methods used. This paper presents a historical analysis of potato IPM implementation in Peru in which the International Potato Center took part. The analysis is complemented with IPM cases on potato and sweetpotato from other Latin American countries, which enabled the extraction of factors that influence implementation and impact of IPM. The analysis indicates that IPM to become a reality at field level needs the coexistence of sound technical knowledge and solutions, inter-institutional cooperation mechanisms, collective action of farming communities and an enabling political environment, which is not common in most Latin American countries.