ABSTRACT
More than 500,000 households can be classified as traditional small farms in Peninsular Malaysia. The average farm size is about two hectares with considerable variation between urban and rural areas, and among different communities in the different states. Almost two-thirds (65%) of these farmers are owner-occupiers, 24% are tenant farmers and 11% owner-tenant operators. The basic premise is that appropriate technological changes for small farmers must emerge from agro-socioeconomic studies that identify conditions influencing traditional cropping systems. A proper analysis must incorporate the farmers' criteria, including the way they perceive pest problems and how they react to risk. In studying farmers' resistance to integrated pest management (IPM), Sheahan adopted the systems approach in which IPM is perceived as one sub-system of the production unit, the farm. Within this sub-system, there are further subsystems for each plant pest.
