Designing local institutions for cooperative pest management to underpin market access: The case of industry-driven fruit fly area-wide management

Area-wide management of mobile pests offers advantages over uncoordinated farm-by-farm efforts through increased effectiveness of pest control and by reducing the need for pesticides. The literature about area-wide pest management focuses predominantly on the technical aspects of these programs, but tends to neglect the importance of social and institutional aspects. In this article the eight design principles for robust common-pool resource institutions are applied to industry-driven area-wide pest management. Three case studies are compared to gain insight about the social and institutional aspects that affect the success of these undertakings. These cases are focused on Queensland Fruit Fly control to underpin market access. Growers face a particular challenge to gain support from town residents, as backyard fruit trees can be pest breeding spots. The paper illustrates that social aspects – such as heterogeneous incentives, social capital and the ratio between town residents and main beneficiary growers – influence the ease of which the design principles can be applied. Market access opportunities impact the ratio of cost and benefits to different participants. The paper concludes that disconnecting the technical aspects of successful programs from the social and institutional aspects in which they are embedded can create unrealistic expectations in socially different regions that intend to replicate these programs.