23 October 2000

Text: Scientists Develop Natural Pesticide to Fight Locust

Scientists have developed and implemented an environmentally safe pesticide to fight crop-destroying locusts and grasshoppers, reports a press release on October 23.

The new pesticide uses a naturally-occurring fungus that is deadly to both locusts and grasshoppers, but does not damage other insects, plants, animals or people. The first commercial release -- involving the largest aerial spraying of the bio-pesticide ever conducted in Africa -- indicated that it remains effective up to three times longer than chemical pesticides, making it more cost effective as well as environmentally safe.

Swarms of locusts and grasshoppers have long plagued farmers around the world.

The bio-pesticide was developed by the Nigeria-based International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) as part of an international research consortium.

Following is the text of the press release:

Scientists Set to Defeat Millennia-long Problem of Locust and Grasshopper Plagues with New Environmentally Safe Bio-Pesticide

First Commercial Release of Natural Pesticide Proves Safe, Reliable Alternative To Traditional Chemical Sprays

Washington, D.C. and Madan, Nigeria (23 October 2000) - Scientists announced today that they have successfully developed and implemented an environmentally safe, natural alternative to chemical insecticides in the fight against crop-destroying locusts and grasshoppers.

Swarms of locusts and grasshoppers have long plagued farmers around the world. The first commercial quantities of this new bio-pesticide were recently released in what is believed to be the largest aerial spraying of a bio-pesticide ever conducted in Africa. Early reports of the spraying in Niger indicate that the bio-pesticide provides complete control up to three times longer than do current chemical insecticides, making it less expensive and environmentally safe for farmers to protect their crops from locusts and grasshoppers.

Scientists with the Nigeria-based International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) developed the natural pesticide over a ten-year period and will report the advance as part of the International Centers Week 2000 conference at the World Bank this week in Washington, D.C. IITA developed the bio-control as part of an international research consortium called LUBILOSA (LUtte Biologique contre les LOcustes et les SAuteriaux or Biological Control of Locusts and Grasshoppers).

"Because locust outbreaks can cause significant economic damage to crops, governments often react with application of chemical pesticides when locust populations start building up. In turn, such reliance on chemical control raises a range of environmental and health issues, " says Ian Johnson, chairman of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) and World Bank vice president for Environmentally and Socially Sustainable Development. The CGIAR is a consortium of donors, including the World Bank, that fund the work of IITA and 15 other Future Harvest Centers.

"IITA and its partners have created a biological alternative that is highly effective and does not have many of the disadvantages of synthetic chemical pesticides, " says Johnson. "Through commercial production of this new bio-pesticide, we hope to add a control option that is safer and more environmentally sound than the present range of chemical pesticides."

The new control method uses a naturally occurring fungus--scientific name Matarhizium anisopliae--that is deadly to both locusts and grasshoppers, but does not damage other insects, plants, animals, or people. Once infected by the fungal preparation, locusts and grasshoppers die within four to ten days. The fungus strain currently used by scientists is indigenous to Africa, but strains from various origins can be used to produce the bio-control. This makes localized formulations possible.

Scientists foresee the fungal formulation as having widespread use beyond Africa in other countries where grasshoppers and locusts are problem pests including the United States, Argentina, Australia, Indonesia, Spain, and Russia. In recent months, Texas farmers battled one of the worst outbreaks of grasshoppers in 30 years, and just this month the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) issued a desert locust warning for Northern Mali.

The per unit cost of using the bio-control--less than US$10 per hectare (US$4 per acre)--is approximately the same as conventional pesticides, but its overall usage cost is about one-third less because the fungus requires only one application per season. Unlike chemical insecticides, the fungal pathogen remains infective to grasshoppers and locusts for a longer time because it is a living organism and survives in the vegetation. The bio-pesticide also eliminates environmental and health costs associated with chemical pesticide applications.

"Local farmers living in the Sahelian region of Niger--where this first commercial release was made--had become accustomed to the quick kills produced by chemicals," says Lukas Brader, an entomologist and director general of IITA. "But the farmers soon realized that biological control--which protects their crops longer, for less money, and with fewer health hazards---serves their interests far better."

Chemical insecticides kill beneficial small animals and insects as well as pose dangers to local peoples living in these areas. According to IITA scientists, the ongoing spraying of insecticides throughout Africa--including locations frequented by migratory birds--is contributing to large decreases in the numbers of migratory flocks in Europe.

In addition to work conducted by IITA and CABI, CILSS--a regional cooperation agency made up of the Sahelian countries--and GTZ--the German Agency for Technical Cooperation--participated in this project. Financial support was provided by the governments of Switzerland, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Canada.

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