India
India is the top priority target country because the diamondback moth problem is greatest there. Also, India has well developed biosafety regulations for genetically modified (GM) plants, and it already has commercialised a GM crop (cotton). Both the private partner (which produces vegetable seed for much of Asia and has several Indian breeding stations) and the public partners, have worked extensively with the Indian agricultural research and approvals systems.

India is the world's largest cauliflower grower and second largest cabbage grower (after China). Cabbage and cauliflower are important in the diets in this country where vegetarianism is widespread. The one and a half million cabbage and cauliflower fields occupy 440,000 hectares in India with a production of 6.4 million tonnes annually (Mohan and Gujar, 2003) or about 6.4 kilograms per capita on an average Brassica area of <0.5ha per farmer (Sandur 2005) . Applications to vegetables consume 14% of all pesticides used in India with over half of the applied materials being relatively mammalian toxic and environmentally persistent organophosphates and 20% organochlorines (Dhaliwal and Singh, 2000). Both chemical groups are significantly toxic to humans and the environment. Some 6,000 tonnes of active ingredient of insecticides are used annually for diamondback moth control alone in India (Mohan and Gujar, 2003), and the cost of cabbage and cauliflower protection is greater than $US 168 million annually. A study undertaken for CIMBAA found that in a typical production area in Karnataka, the average number of insecticide applications was 13 per crop (Sandur, 2005) or more than one per week. In areas of diamondback moth outbreak this number is often much higher (up to 30 applications per crop is common). The cost of buying and applying insecticies was 38% of the total variable costs of production. Every year, spraying diamondback moth with insecticide consumes more than 33,000 person-years of labour in India alone. In Sandur's study, one third of farmers reported symptoms of pesticide poisoning in the previous year (conjunctivitis, headache, dermatitis and stomach pains). Farmers widely disregard the ‘no-spray periods' before marketing brassicas, and two thirds of vegetables tested between 1988 and 1998 were contaminated by pesticide residues, with 11% of the samples exhibiting levels over the maximum residue level (Agnihotri, 1999). The situation is undoubtedly worse now, as diamondback moth continues to develop serious resistance to all classes of compounds sprayed against it, thus increasing the pressure to spray more intensively.

Indonesia
Indonesia is the collaboration's second target country. It has 64,000 hectares of cabbage, most of it continuously cropped. Brassicas are very important dietary items. Diamondback moth breeds all year round and is a significant problem in 85% of all production districts. Cabbage is sprayed an average of 2.5 times per week with the same variety of toxic materials as used in India, most of which are strongly resisted by diamondback moth, resulting in very significant residue and operator health problems (Rauf et al., 2004). However Indonesia has less fully developed biosafety regulations than India and has not yet commercialised a GM crop.

Kenya
Kenya is likely to be the first target country in Africa. Kenya produces over half a million tonnes of brassicas each year, most of which is by the 40,000 smallholder family farms to whom brassica production is a major source of income. Diamondback moth is a key pest, with all farmers relying on pyrethroid and organophosphate insecticides for caterpillar control and 98% of them using no other control measures (Oruko and Ndungu, 2001). The cost of brassica crop protection varies from 100 to 225 UK pounds per hectare (21% to 65% of the variable costs of production) depending on the crop and district.

References

• Agnihotri, N.P. 1999. Pesticide safety, evaluation and monitoring. All India Co-ordinated Research Project on Pesticide Residues, IARI, New Delhi, 173pp, unpublished.
• Dhaliwal, G.S. and Singh, B. 2000. Pesticides and Environment, Commonwealth Publishers, New Delhi.
• Mohan, M. and Gujar, G.T. 2003. Local variation in susceptibility of Diamondback moth to insecticides and the role do detoxification enzymes. Journal of Crop Protection 22: 495-504
• Rauf, A., Prijona, D. Dadang, Russell, D.A. 2004. Survey of pest control practices of cabbage farmers in W.Java, Indonesia. Report for CIMBAA.
• Sandur, S.K. 2004. Study of the implications of Diamondback moth control for Indian vegetable farmers. Report for CIMBAA.
• Oruko, L.O., and Ndungu, B., 2001 Final Socio-economic report for the vegetable IPM thematic cluster. CAB International Africa Regional Center and Kenya Agricultural Research Institute. Nairobi, Kenya, pp 49.