AID grant no. 596-0150-G-00-1250-00 to the Pan American School of Agriculture to develop, validate, evaluate, and implement various versions of the rational pest and pesticide management course

Zamorano will develop the following variants of its current one- week RPPM course (developed in 1990 under ROCAP grant 5960108): (1) a 3-day variant focused on women"s role in pesticide safety (e.g., storage, clothing and equipment cleaning, first aid, and protecting children and food from pesticide residues); (2) a 2- day variant for farm managers focusing on the social and economic parameters of rational, safe pesticide use (e.g., international laws and regulations, farm-level safety, application and dosages, and equipment maintenance); (3) a 2-week trainer version for extensionists working with bilateral USAID projects and/or national extension programs; and (4) a 2-week IPM course for development organization policymakers, covering policy- and program-level IPM philosophy, practices, and implementation issues. Zamorano plans to conduct 80 RPPM courses throughout Central America (mostly in Guatemala), 34 of which will be supported by this project or other USAID programs. A total of 2,000 individuals will receive training. Zamorano will also develop low-cost mass media educational materials to complement the above efforts.