Effective phosphine fumigation - technology transfer

ACIAR project PHT/1998/137 developed national phosphine fumigation standards to control insect infestation in stored grains in Vietnam - essential to support Vietnam's growing export trade, ensure food security within the country and underpin effective quarantine protocols. The team at the Plant Quarantine Diagnostic Centre in Hanoi that developed the standards will begin to implement these standards in this new project - first through a national program to train officers from three key phosphine user groups. These are the Vietnamese Department of National Reserve (managers of the national grain reserve), commercial fumigation companies (responsible for the fumigation of export commodities), and Provincial Plant Protection and Regional Plant Quarantine Sub-departments.

The project consisted of six 3-day workshops that were held in centres throughout Vietnam (Hanoi (2), Son La, Da Nang, Daklak, Ho Chi Minh City). Dr Duong Minh Tu prepared a phosphine fumigation manual, which was used as the text for the workshops. The workshops emphasised practical aspects of fumigation but also included information on relevant legislation and topics on resistance development and management.

Around 20 participants took part in each workshop. They included staff of private fumigation companies (VFC, TCFC) and officers of the Department of National Reserve, Provincial Plant Protection Sub-department and Regional Plant Quarantine Department. Successful completion of the workshop and attainment of competency is a pre-requisite for a licence to fumigate in Vietnam.

Before each workshop, participants were surveyed to assess their level of knowledge. Participants from private accompanies demonstrated more knowledge than those from the public sector, and participants from Ha Noi, HCMC and Da Nang had greater knowledge than their provincial colleagues. In both cases, this probably reflects the amount of experience of fumigation of the various groups. In general, however, there was a lack of knowledge of critical factors including correct dose, fumigant exposure time and correct sealing.

Participants at each workshop drew up a communication plan for use on their return to their units. They were encouraged to consider themselves as trainers so that the important content of the workshop would reach the wider fumigation community. But for most participants the highlight was the opportunity to observe and participate in fumigation.

The trainers conducted follow-up visits approximately six months after the workshops, to identify communication actions taken by participants, to assess the longer-term impact of the training and to seek a longer-term view to improve the workshops. They found that about 50% of participants had changed their fumigation practices as a result of what they had learned. Of the remainder, 25% did not undertake fumigations directly, and 25% intended to make changes but could not because of budget limitations.

The most important changes included increased use of safety equipment, better sealing of fumigations, and use of gas concentration monitoring instruments. Ninety-six per cent of participants regarded the workshop manual as a valuable resource. For future workshops, there was strong support for the use of video filmed in Vietnam demonstrating aspects of different fumigation systems that could not be covered in the workshop practicals. Over all, the workshops were deemed a highly successful conduit for commencing the introduction of the new fumigation standard in Vietnam.