Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
with offers of property damage replacement
warranties, which are known to work.
These efforts will help practitioners make
consumers invest more in pest management
and, in turn, allow the practice of IPM.
Another way of overcoming the fear of
consumers is by offering a long-term IPM
programme such as an annual programme
instead of a single treatment. This is more
reassuring to consumers. The practitioner
may include an additional benefi t by
including another service such as sealing
pest entry points or monitoring cockroaches
in the annual programme. The probability
of the consumer taking such a package is
higher, as indicated by the current survey in
the Philippines by the author. Consumers
are frequently offered free cockroach or
rodent control services along with annual
termite control and maintenance pro-
grammes. Studies have shown that con-
sumers, when facing a possible risk in a
deal, tend to build in considerable margin
for error; what we might gain must be worth
a good bit more to compensate for the
unpredictability (Lunn, 2010). The pest
controller, by offering additional services
without extra charge in the above scenario,
creates an environment where the consumer
gets a chance for some compensation and in
turn helps decision making.
Case study 1
A case study in the Philippines is presented
here using termite management as an
example. It has been accepted that suc-
cessful termite management relies on con-
tinuous monitoring and maintenance. Both
monitoring and maintenance in turn make
termite management programmes expen-
sive. A 6-hectare private beach resort was
used as a test ground for evaluating a
methodology for presenting IPM to the
property owners. All the 17 structures in
the resort showed termite infestation. It was
also learned that for more than 10 years the
structures were treated by a periodic soil
and direct spot spray treatment. To convince
the resort owners to shift to a comprehensive
IPM programme a proposal with a total
change in paradigm was prepared and
presented.
The proposal presented to them was a
5-year project that involved a number of
distinct jobs, namely:
1.
control of existing termites in the struc-
tures;
2.
regular monitoring of the structures;
3.
intercepting incoming termite colonies
and eradicating them;
4.
controlling termites in the landscape
and avenue trees in and around the struc-
tures;
5.
sanitation involving the removal of
unprotected wood and wooden objects;
6.
destruction of visible termite mounds;
7.
reduction in the amount of toxic chemi-
cals;
8.
documentation and presentation of a
regular progress report; and
9.
conducting seminars for in-house main-
tenance staff.
Providing a multi-service
programme
It is understood that managing pests using
IPM is often perceived as expensive. In an
industry where price remains pivotal, the
success of adopting IPM will thus depend
on justifying the cost. Practitioners are
therefore challenged to develop methods
and skills to present IPM in a manner that
will make it acceptable to consumers.
Practitioners could present additional
service benefi ts and incorporate them in
their programme. Two successful case
studies by the author are reported in this
section to show that the presentation of IPM
as a multi-service programme helped its
acceptance and adoption over conventional
treatments in spite of the higher cost.
The cost of each of the services was
separately calculated and presented in a
total. In spite of the cost being a few times
higher than the conventional treatment
method, the owners decided in favour. This
success helped conclude the need for
practitioners to project the number of value-
added services in IPM, which would justify
the higher cost and make each venture
profi table and sustainable.
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