Farmers in the province of Wellesley vote to select the most effective information poster for rat control to be used as part of the Rice-pest Control Campaign carried out under FAO's IPM programme. - - Rice Pest Control. In Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Thailand, 36 million tonnes of rice are lost annually through pests and competition from weeds. By 1987, the Intercountry Programme for the Development and Application of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), had trained over 25 000 rice farmers from these countries to distinguish harmful insects; select resistant cultivars of crops; determine pest densities causing economic losses; identify beneficial animals and to apply pesticides safely and only when needed. Funding the project are Australia, the Netherlands and the Arab Gulf Programme for the UN Development Organization (AGFUND).