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Collaborating Scientists:
U.S.:
Gary Peterson - Sorghum Breeder, Texas AgriLife Research,
Lubbock, TX 79401, USA
Gerald Michels, Jr. - Entomologist, Texas AgriLife
Research, Amarillo, TX 79106, USA
Michael Pendleton - Electron Microscopist, Texas A&M
University, College Station, TX 77843, USA
Mali:
Dr. Niamoye Yaro Diarisso – Entomologist/Scientific
Coordinator for Irrigated Crops, Food Processing, and
Pesticides, IER, BP 258, Bamako, Mali
Niger:
Mr. Hamé Abdou Kadi Kadi - Entomologist, INRAN, BP 60,
Kollo, Niger
Mozambique:
Mr. Fernando M. Chitio - Entomologist and Zonal Director,
IIAM, Box 36, Nampula, Mozambique
Botswana:
Dr. D. C. Munthali - Entomologist, Botswana College of
Agriculture, Private Bag 0027, Gaborone, Botswana
South
Africa:
Dr. Hannalene du Plessis – Entomologist, ARC, Potchefstroom,
South Africa
Summary:
Sorghum, Sorghum bicolor, and pearl millet, Pennisetum
glaucum, are uniquely suited for production with limited
inputs of water, fertilizer, and pesticides in Africa and
the U.S. Such abiotic and biotic stresses as drought and
insect, disease, and weed pests limit production. Major
insect pests of pearl millet and sorghum include millet head
miner, sorghum midge, aphids, panicle-infesting bugs, stalk
borers, and storage coleopterans that destroy yield and
quality of sorghum and pearl millet for domestic use and
marketing. Research objectives are to monitor and detect
potential arthropod pests, understand life histories of
insect pests including natural controls, determine agronomic
practices to prevent damage by insect and disease pests in
the field, and develop cultivars with greater yield and
multiple resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses in the
field and storage in Africa and the US. This project
involves collaboration of a multi-disciplinary, multi-agency
team of entomologists, plant breeders, pathologists,
agricultural economists, extension educators, and others
working for public research or educational agencies or for
private industry or volunteer organizations in the U.S.,
Mali, Niger, Mozambique, Botswana, and South Africa.
Students will be educated in entomology, integrated pest
management, and the cropping systems approach. Development
of host-country institutional research and educational
capacities will enable better, site-specific management of
insect pests. Development, dissemination, and
implementation of sustainable, environmentally sound pest
management technologies locally adapted for farmers and
others will annually prevent millions of dollars in damage
and loss in the field and storage, reduce pesticide use,
conserve natural resources of soil and water without
contamination by pesticides, and increase production of
nutritious food and feed for domestic use and income from
marketing to enable sustainable agricultural development.
Objectives:
Multi-disciplinary, multi-agency teams of researchers and
educators from Mali, Niger, Mozambique, Botswana, South
Africa, and the U.S. will develop, evaluate, and transfer
pest management technologies to improve yield and quality
and prevent damage by insect pests in sorghum and pearl
millet cropping systems. Development and adoption of new,
ecologically-based pest management technologies for farmers
will decrease damage and loss by insect pests in the field
and storage, reduce pesticide use, conserve natural
resources of soil and water without contamination by
pesticides, and result in sustainable increases in quantity
and quality of nutritious food and feed for domestic use and
income from marketing.
1.
Collaborate with scientists at the Institute D'Economie
Rurale in Mali, Institute National de la Recherche
Agronomique du Niger, Instituto de Investigacao Agraria de
Mozambique, Botswana College of Agriculture, Agricultural
Research Council Grain Crops Institute in South Africa, West
Texas A&M University, Texas AgriLife Research centers, Texas
A&M University, private industries, volunteer organizations,
and other agencies to develop and deliver better integrated
management against insect pests that damage quantity and
quality of sorghum and pearl millet in the field and storage
by improved:
· Understanding
of the biology, ecology, and population dynamics of insect
pests and the damage they cause
· Agronomic
practices such as tillage, rotation, and intercropping to
prevent damage by insect pests and reduce use of pesticides
and their residues
· Cultivars
with greater yield potential and multiple resistance to
biotic and abiotic stresses in the field and storage
2.
Provide education for students from Africa and the US and
short-term training/study opportunities for African
scientists in entomology and IPM.
3.
Develop and maintain partnerships with ICRISAT and private
volunteer organizations engaged in improvement of sorghum
and millet production and betterment of people, and by
presentations and publications, assist extension and other
agencies with transferring pest management information to
farmers, consultants, scientists, and others in Africa and
the U.S. |
