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Biocontrol News and Information
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September 2002, Volume 23 No. 3
- General News
- IPM Systems
- Training News
- Announcements
- Conference Reports
IPM Systems
This section covers integrated pest management (IPM) including biological control, and techniques that are compatible with the use of biological control or minimize negative impact on natural enemies.
Tsetse IPM Goes Africa-wide
The sterile insect technique (SIT) is a tried and tested technique for tsetse (Glossina spp.), with eradication of Glossina austeni confirmed in 1997 in Zanzibar as the result of an IAEA (International Atomic Energy Authority), FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN) and Government of Tanzania model project [See BNI 18(4) (December 1997), 107N-108N, SIT zaps tsetse in Zanzibar].
In SIT, male flies are sterilized through radiation and then released into tsetse-infested areas, where they mate. But while the sterile males transfer sperm, the eggs in the wild females fail to develop. With continuous release of sterile males, the reproduction rate of the whole population declines, leading eventually to extinction. Tsetse is an amenable target for SIT as the females mate only once. Nobody claims SIT to be a cheap business, but instead they argue that continuing to live with tsetse is even more costly, in terms of the cost of repeated traditional control treatments as well as in lost production and human health impacts.
In June, FAO, IAEA, the OAU (Organization of African Unity) and WHO (World Health Organization) called for a more widespread application of IPM principles on an area-wide level to combat tsetse. In a joint report issued following a 2-day workshop held in June in Rome, they note that tsetse-transmitted trypanosomiasis, a disease unique to Africa and found in 37 sub-Saharan countries, is threatening 50 million people and 48 million cattle. Annual losses in cattle production alone are valued at up to US$1.2 billion, while the existence of tsetse on nearly 10 million square kilometres of sub-Saharan Africa is a major impediment to the development of sustainable agricultural systems in the region as potentially useful farmland is inaccessible to people and livestock.
The proposed area-wide IPM programme, linking agricultural practices and tsetse intervention, in areas with mixed livestock and crop farming where there is strong potential for sustainable agricultural development brings together all active tsetse control strategies including SIT.
The aim of the workshop was to harmonize the activities of the four bodies at the workshop, together with two continent-wide initiatives:
- PAAT (Programme Against African Trypanosomiasis) combines the forces of FAO, WHO, IAEA and OAU/IBAR (Inter-African Bureau for Animal Resources). It is an inter-UN agency forum bringing together all those concerned with tsetse and trypanosomiasis research and intervention
- PATTEC (Pan-African Tsetse and Trypanosomiasis Eradication Campaign) was launched by the OAU at the request of African Heads of State, supported by FAO, WHO and IAEA, in July 2000. It is a focused campaign within Africa primarily concerned with tsetse elimination. Its declared objective is to eradicate tsetse in three zones: the cotton belt of West Africa, the southern Rift Valley of Ethiopia and Botswana
The Rome workshop assessed tsetse and trypanosomiasis intervention projects in Ethiopia and Burkina Faso/Mali within the framework of the area-wide IPM approach, and also addressed issues of how to ensure a sustainable approach to improving human health and socio-economic development of tsetse-infested areas.
Source: FAO website newsroom:
http://www.fao.org/english/newsroom/news/2002/index.html
2002/41: Four international organizations call for united battle against
tsetse fly diseases