Crop protection situation in Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, and Guyana

of P.) should be augmented with one additional entomologist and one additional plant pathologist to accelerate pest management research in corn, rice, and vegetable crops. In Guyana the importance of pests of vegetable crops and fruits (citrus, pineapples, coconut) has yet to be assessed. Probably the most significant contribution from AID Pest Management Program at this point would be to provide the means to train specialists in pest management and to stimulate the study of the economic significance of agricultural pests. For Guatemala we recommend that an agronomist, an entomologist, a plant pathologist, and a nematologist be appointed to work with Guatemalan counterparts at MAG and in collaboration with the Universidad de San Carlos, in the ongoing food crop programs (bean, corn, rice, sorghum). A similar team should be appointed for Honduras. The emphasis here should be in the acceleration of the bean improvement program and the concurrent development of a pest management program for this crop. Special attention should be given the control of insects of stored grains in small farms. In Nicaragua the form of implementation of the AID Pest Management program will depend on whether the Plan Nacional de Educacion Superior, Investigacion y Extension Agricola is launched or not. If it is, a good opportunity to establish a pest management program as a part of the structure of MAG in the areas of teaching, research and extension will present itself. In Costa Rica the main objective of the AID Pest Management Program should be to coordinate the research programs currently being conducted by the Facultad de Agronomia (U. of C.R.) and MAG to make them truly interdisciplinary crop oriented. The crops included should be beans, corn, rice, cacao, plantains and oil palm.