IAPPS NEWSLETTER

Number I      January, 2006

NOTE ON THE 16TH MEETING AND SCIENTIFIC CONFERENCE OF AAIS

The African Association of Insect Scientists (AAIS) held its 16th Meeting and Scientific Conference from 06th to 13th, June 2005, in collaboration with the Entomological Society of Ghana.
The theme of the scientific conference was "Current issues in integrated pest and vector management in Africa." The venue was Noguochi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, Legon, Accra, Ghana. The opening ceremony, chaired by Prof Chris Gordon, Dean of the University of Ghana, was raised by the presence of Dr. Winfred Hammond, Vice Minister of Agriculture of Ghana, Entomologist and member of the Association where he served as President from 1993 to 1995.

Eight six participants coming from twelve African countries (Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Togo, Zanzibar and Zimbabwe) participated to the scientific conference. Forty two oral presentations and four posters were presented in the two main fields covered by AAIS activities which are general and agricultural entomology and medical/veterinary entomology. Two prices were awarded by the AAIS, one for the best senior scientist presentation and one for the best student presentation.

On June 09th, 2005, AAIS held its bi-annual General Assembly. Fifty three members took part in this general meeting with the following agenda points:

At the end of this General Assembly the following members were elected in the Executive Committee of the AAIS:

The next meeting and scientific conference will take place in 2007 in Dakar, Senegal. Nigeria was selected as a second choice. The 2009 meeting and scientific conference will take place in Nairobi, Kenya.

For any information, please write to AAIS at the below address:
AAIS
P. O. BOX 59862, 00200
Nairobi, Kenya
Phone: +254-20-861680/861681-4 (Ext. 3041)
Fax: +254-20-860110/803360
Email: aais@icipe.org (with copy to kdiarra@ucad.sn or kara_diarra@hotmail.com )

VIRGINIA TECH IPM PROGRAM GRANTS $7.2 MILLION IN SUB-AWARDS

The USAID-funded Integrated Pest Management Collaborative Research Support Program (IPM CRSP) at Virginia Tech has announced that it will fund 12 sub-awards to researchers at seven universities for a total of more than $7 million. Awards range in value from $350,000 to $825,000 for the four-year grants. Projects were selected by an independent evaluation review panel comprised of experts on developing country issues.

Programs are organized according to two schemes: regional IPM based on geographically delimited interventions, and global theme programs that deal with worldwide pest management challenges. Start-up for the projects is expected to begin immediately. Lead Principal Investigators and institutions receiving awards are as follows:

Regional Programs

Jeff Alwang of Virginia Tech and his team will implement IPM in Latin American and the Caribbean: Crops for Broad-Based Growth and Perennial Production for Fragile Ecosystems. This program will address pest management issues for seasonal and perennial crops. It will focus on solanaceous plants, cucurbits, diversified highland vegetables, cacao, and plantain.

The Regional IPM Program in East Africa: Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda led by Mark Erbaugh of Ohio State University, will work to improve the productivity of high-value horticultural crops in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.

Clemson University's Michael Hammig will direct Ecologically-Based Participatory IPM for Southeast Asia. This program will focus on IPM in Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam-countries with large agricultural sectors and ecological "hot spots" for biodiversity losses.

Karim Maredia of Michigan State University will lead Ecologically-Based Participatory and Collaborative Research and Capacity Building in IPM in the Central Asia Region. Researchers will work with human resource development, networking, and training/exchange programs to strengthen institutional IPM-training capability in this region that was long isolated from the rest of the world.

The West African Consortium of IPM Excellence, designed by Virginia Tech's Don Mullins, will focus efforts in Mali, Burkina Faso, The Gambia, Guinea and Senegal to create a regionally integrated IPM research program.

With the Integrated Pest Management of Specialty Crops in Eastern Europe program, Virginia Tech's Doug Pfeiffer will focus efforts in Albania, Moldova and Ukraine. This program seeks to decrease pesticide use in target crops, slow development of pesticide resistance, reduce the resurgence of secondary pests, decrease pesticide exposure risk to humans, and improve the marketing position of local agricultural commodities in the international marketplace.

Global Theme Programs

The Management of the Weed Parthenium program, designed by Wondie Mersie of Virginia State, will develop an integrated weed management system that reduces the adverse impact of this weed on humans, crops, livestock and plant biodiversity in the regions of Eastern and Southern Africa.

With Regional Diagnostic Laboratories, Ohio State University's Sally Miller plans to develop plant disease diagnostic capacity by creating diagnostic labs in three critical regions: West Africa, East Africa and Central America/Caribbean.

Naidu Rayapati of Washington State University will lead Integrated Management of Thrips-Borne Tospoviruses in Vegetable Cropping Systems in South Asia and the Mekong Region. This program will work to minimize crop losses due to thrips-borne tospoviruses in smallholder vegetable farming systems in South Asia and the Mekong region.

Virginia Tech's Sue Tolin will direct the Collaborative Assessment and Management of Insect-Transmitted Viruses in the IPM CRSP. The aim of this global theme program is to develop integrated management strategies to control virus diseases and their insect vector populations that are applicable to multiple regions and cropping systems.

Yulu Xia of North Carolina State University leads Applications of Information Technology and Databases in IPM in Developing Countries and Development of a Global IPM Technology Database. Researchers on this program will apply IT in regional and global theme programs and build IT capacity for IPM.

With IPM Impact Assessment for the IPM CRSP, Virginia Tech's George Norton will provide leadership and coordination on impact assessment for each of the regional and global theme IPM programs on the IPM CRSP, and help the CRSP assess IPM priorities regionally and globally.

Miriam Rich
Office of International Research, Education, and Development (OIRED)
1060 Litton Reaves Hall (0334), Virginia Tech
Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA
Phone: (540) 231-4153
E-mail: mrich@vt.edu
Web: www.oired.vt.edu

The IAPPS Newsletter is published by the International Association for the Plant Protection Sciences and distributed in Crop Protection to members and other subscribers. Crop Protection, published by Elsevier, is the Official Journal of IAPPS.

IAPPS Mission: to provide a global forum for the purpose of identifying, evaluating, integrating, and promoting plant protection concepts, technologies, and policies that are economically, environmentally, and socially acceptable.

It seeks to provide a global umbrella for the plant protection sciences to facilitate and promote the application of the Integrated Pest Management (IPM) approach to a the world's crop and forest ecosystems.

Membership Information: IAPPS has four classes of membership (individual, affiliate, associate, and corporate) which are described here.

The IAPPS Newsletter welcomes news, letters, and other items of interest from individuals and organizations. Address correspondence and information to:

Dr. Manuele Tamo, Editor
IAPPS Newsletter
Biological Control Center for Africa, IITA-Benin
08 B.P. 0932 Tri Postal, Cotonou, Republic of Benin
E-mail: m.tamo@cgiar.org