IITA IPM project 01: Implementing
pheromone traps and other new technologies for control of cowpea insect pests
in West Africa through farmer field schools.
Duration: 3 years (2003 to 2005)
Purpose: To evaluate and
develop recommendations for the use of botanical insecticides against M. vitrata (in conjunction with
pheromone traps) and early season pests such as aphids and thrips; extend the
uptake of the pheromone traps and botanical insecticides; improve farmers’
access to pheromone lures and traps, and to botanical insecticides.
Background/description: Previously, R7441 developed pheromone
traps to predict infestations of the legume podborer, Maruca vitrata in cowpea in West Africa. These enable timing of control measures to
be optimised. The proposed project will increase food security and economic returns
to cowpea farmers by developing a package combining pheromone traps and
botanical pesticides for control of M. vitrata, aphids (Aphis craccivora) and thrips, (Megalurothrips sjostedti). Uptake among poor small-scale farmers in
Benin and Ghana will be promoted through farmer field schools facilitated by
national agricultural research and extension services, as well as NGOs,
operating under the umbrella of the regional, IFAD-funded “Projet de Niébé pour
l’Afrique” (PRONAF) project. Commercial
availability of the novel technologies to farmers will be developed in
partnership with selected farmers’ organisations trained by NGOs and the local
private sector.
Agroecozone(s) and
location(s): The savannas in Benin and Ghana
Expected outputs: a) Recommendations developed for the combined use of
botanical or conventional insecticides, and pheromone traps, to control M. vitrata and early season pests; b)
Uptake increased for pheromone traps and best package of botanical/conventional
insecticides for controlling the pest complex; c) Local/regional systems of
manufacture and distribution of pheromone traps and lures, and of botanical
insecticides developed on a pilot-scale.
Potential impact and beneficiaries: Assuming realisation of the Outputs, the project would
improve food security and reduce poverty among small-scale rural farmers
in Benin and Ghana by enabling the reduction of costs of pest control in
cowpea. This would be brought about by completing development of a pest control
package combining pheromone traps for M.
vitrata and (ideally) botanical pesticides for control of this pest and two
others, aphids (Aphis
craccivora) and thrips, (Megalurothrips sjostedti).
The project would underpin this by developing the commercial availability of
the novel technologies to farmers.
Partners: a) NRI as
implementing agency (IITA is subcontracted for specific activities); b) Savanna
Agricultural Research Institute (SARI), P.O. Box 52, Tamale, Ghana; c) Plant
Protection & Regulatory Services Directorate, PO Box M37, Pokoase, Accra,
Ghana; d) Environmental Protection Agency of Ghana, PO Box M.326 Accra, Ghana;
e) TechnoServe (Ghana Office), Z75 Volta Street, Airport Residential Area, PO
Box 135, Accra; f) Ghana Organic Agriculture Network,
PO Box 6342, Kumasi, Ghana; g) Service Protection des Végétaux et
Contrôle Phytosanitaire (SPV), Ministèrè du Développement Rural, Direction de
l'Agriculture, B.P. 58, Porto-Novo, Bénin; h) Institut National des Recherches
Agricoles du Bénin (INRAB), B.P. 884, Cotonou. Organisation Béninoise pour la Promotion de l’Agriculture Biologique,
02 BP 8033, Cotonou, Bénin.
Development investor(s): United Kingdom
Department for International DfID
IITA contact
person(s)/principal investigator(s): Manu Tamo M.Tamo@cgiar.org and Ousmane
Coulibaly U.Coulibaly@cgiar.org website http://www.iita.org