and Integrated Pest Management - part - usaid

THE ORGANIZATION OF THE THAI-GERMAN
PLANT PROTECTION PROGPAM:
A BILATERAL TECHNICAL COOPERATION PROJECT
J.Schaefer
Thai-German Plant Protection Program
P.O. Box 9-100, Bangkok 10900, Thailand
In the late 1970s, the government of the Kingdom of Thailand introduced
the Integrated Pest Management (IPM-4) concept in agricultural plant production
through the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperative (MOAC), using its
Department of Agriculture (DOA; in charge of research) and its Department of
Agricultural Extension (DOAE).
One of the most essential components of IPM is an effective plant pest
surveillance system. In order to accelerate the introduction of this technology,
the Thai government requested the govcrnment of the Federal Republic of
Germany (FRG) for technical cooperation in this field.
Beginning in 1981 the technology - since then named Surveillance and
Early Warning System (SEWS) - has Len developed on a bilateral arrangement
by researchers of the DOA, the plant protcction service of the DOAE, and
experts from Deutsche Gcsellschaft for Tcchnische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ), the
executing agency of FRG's Ministry of Economic Cooperation (BMZ). Due to
the urgency associated with its implementation and to guarantee timely
attainment of the set targets in a smooth, effective, and efficient way, the joint
project was organized into what was eventually called the Thai-German Plant
Protection Program (TG-PPP).
PROBLEMS
Whenever two or more countries work together on a common project,
different management systems confront each other. This is due to the fact that
management systems in use reflect the culture, values, and organizational
behavior of the countries involved. For example, a conventional centralized
system of one partner-country would conflict with a rather decentralized system
prevalent in the other partner-country. Many developing agriculture-oriented
countries largely influenced by western management systems claim to follow a
decentralized style of organization by creating territorial structures like region,
province, district, sub-district, and village operations. Iov,ever, in reality, many
of these countries have a rather centralized decision-making system.
Problems in working relationships also result from differences between the
people-oriented organization in Thailand and the task-oriented system in
industrialized countries. Furthermore, because there are no local well-estahlished
procedures, stalf members of the implementing host agency negotiate at random
with their expatriate colleagues about project activities. These examples