Biological control saves Nigeria, others $1.7b

Date:07-08-2011

 
Nigeria, Benin, and Ghana have been saved from spending as much as $1.7 billion on conventional pest control measures for cassava, a common staple within the west African countries.

This is courtesy of various Biological control programs instituted by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and partners on cassava green mite in the last 18 years.

IITA’s  Agricultural Economist, Dr. Ousmane Coulibaly, who made this known says this figure is a conservative estimate.

"The figure represents the amount those countries would have spent over the years on other methods such as chemical control and or yield losses if they never adopted biological control," Coulibaly said in Ibadan.

The cassava green mite is a pest that was responsible for between 30 and 50 percent yield loss of cassava in Africa , until a natural enemy of the pest helped contain the devastation.

In 1993, scientists from IITA and partners identified, Typhlodromalus aripo, as one of the most efficient enemies against cassava green mite. Its subsequent introduction  reduced pest populations by as much as 90 percent in the dry season when pest populations are usually high.

T.aripo was first released on cassava farms in Benin after it had been transported from Brazil and, subsequently, in 11 countries and is now confirmed as established in all of them, except Zambia .
T. aripo has also spread into Togo and Côte d’Ivoire from neighboring countries. It spread at about 12 km in the first year, and as much as 200 km in the second year. Today, the cassava green mite predator has been established on more than 400,000 square kilometers of Africa ’s cassava growing areas.

Scientists say the control of the pest through the application of toxic chemicals was ruled out because of possible adverse effects of chemicals on illiterate farmers and the environment. Also, disease pathogens and pests tend to gradually develop resistance to chemical pesticides over time. Moreover, most chemical pesticides are not selective and might destroy the natural enemies and the pests together.

Coulibaly notes that since the release of T. aripo, benefits in Nigeria have been estimated at $1.367 billion, followed by Ghana $305 million, and Benin $54 million.

Consumed by more than 200 million people in sub Saharan Africa, cassava is a staple food that is rich in calories, highly drought tolerant, thriving in poor soils and easy to store in the ground.