Between the 12^th and the 14^th of June 2015, SRD held a training session on “Community-based Pesticide Action Monitoring – CPAM and International Code of Conduct on the Distribution and Use of Pesticides (FAO code)” to raise the awareness of locals and local authorities on pesticide usage. The training took place in the Cao Xa commune of the Lam Thao district, in Phu Tho province.

This training is just one of many activities belonging to the “Towards a non-toxic Environment in South East Asia” project funded by the Pesticide Action Network, Asia and the Pacific (PAN-AP) and the following Vietnamese partners: the Centre for Sustainable Rural Development (SRD), the Research Centre for Gender, Family and Environment in Development (CGFED) and the Research Center for Rural Development (RCRD).

 Participants doing teamwork

The 31 people in attendance were representatives of the communal People’s Committee and Agricultural Extension Station and are farmers using pesticides for their agricultural activities. The facilitator, Mrs Pham Kim Ngoc, has plenty of experience in research, surveys, training, as well as in managing and implementing the PAN-AP’s projects since 2013.

During the three-day workshop, the facilitator used a participation method, thus encouraging attendees to actively contribute to the discussions on the need for CPAM, the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POP), the Rotterdam Convention (PIC), the FAO code, and CPAM tools. There were respective questionnaires on selected topics like monitoring farmers, pesticide storage, and pesticide poisoning. On top of this, the facilitator also explained the rules of the monitoring process and skills for interviewing farmers before participants engaged in interviews in their localities.

 The facilitator introducing CPAM

The three-day workshop was successful in raising the participants’ consciousness of the negative effects of taking advantage of pesticides and the importance of CPAM in their communities. The participants are now proficient in using questionnaires and classifying the pesticides depending on substances and their hazardous concentrations. Furthermore, they are fully aware of the significance of wearing safety clothing when spraying pesticides and the pre-harvest interval (PHI). As a result, they can communicate with other people to do the same.

***Community Pesticide Action Monitoring (CPAM) was developed by PAN Asia and the Pacific in the 1990s to document and create awareness of pesticide impacts. CPAM is done with informed and consenting communities (especially women and underrepresented groups), based on Participatory Action Research, and encouraging organising and action among the community members. Source: http://www.pan-uk.org/health/community-based-pesticide-action-monitoring-cpam