Abstract
Arthropod pests and vectors constrain the livelihood opportunities of people in Africa by debilitating production of crops and livestock and through transmission of vector-borne diseases. In the absence of effective alternative management options to tackle these pests and vectors, there is extensive dependence on synthetic pesticides for their management on crop and livestock systems, with significant negative impacts on animal and human health, and the environment. Biopesticides are effective and environmentally sustainable alternatives to synthetic pesticides. At the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe), the Arthropod Pathology Unit (APU) was established for effective biopesticide research-for-development (R4D), underpinned by a large repository of arthropod pathogens, protocols for lab bioassays and field efficacy testing, and an effective public-private partnership to generate new biopesticide products. The focus of icipe’s APU has gradually transformed from basic to applied research leading to innovative, commercial products. Among the insect pathogens, greater focus has been placed on fungi, especially Metarhizium anisopliae, against key crop and livestock pests. Presently, three biopesticides based on M. anisopliae strains researched by icipe have been commercialized by Real IPM (Thika, Kenya) and are used on 132,994 ha in sub-Saharan Africa, with registration of additional products against animal ticks and the fall armyworm Spodoptera frugiperda pending. Our R4D activities on arthropod pathogens increasingly include bacteria, microsporidia, entomopathogenic nematodes and viruses. Recently, icipe is expanding R4D towards plant endophytes and rhizosphere inhabitants. The Centre also embarked on understanding the diversity, roles and possible exploitation of insect symbionts in key plant pest and disease vectors. In addition, key entomopathogens of reared insects for human food and animal feed need to be identified and controlled through high hygiene standards during rearing. Further, research is aimed at integrating biopesticides not only with other integrated pest management (IPM) technologies but also with pollination services.
Highlights
The Need for BiopesticidesIn the absence of effective alternative management options to tackle pests, smallholder farmers rely extensively on indiscriminate application of synthetic pesticides
Studies in Kenya in 2015 have shown that application of two to three components of an integrated pest management (IPM) package, comprised of parasitoid release, biopesticides, orchard sanitation, food bait and male annihilation technique, reduced mango yield losses caused by tephritid fruit flies by 19–55% and resulted, on average, in a 22–48% increase in mango net income compared to the previous season (Kibira et al, 2015; Muriithi et al, 2016)
We demonstrated the effectiveness of H. lixii strain F3ST1, T. harzianum strain ICIPE 709, C. rosea strain ICIPE 707 and T. atroviride strain ICIPE 710 against T. tabaci through systemic induced resistance after they were inoculated as endophytes in onion (Muvea et al, 2014, 2015)
Summary
In the absence of effective alternative management options to tackle pests, smallholder farmers rely extensively on indiscriminate application of synthetic pesticides. These synthetic pesticides are harmful to human health, detrimental to the environment and biodiversity, and lead to rapid build-up of resistance in the target pests while decimating natural enemies of pests, resulting in secondary pest outbreaks. For smallholder farmers who rely on their crops as a primary dietary staple, it is essential to introduce management techniques of lower toxicity. Biopesticides often only affect the target pest and do not pose negative effects on the environment Their use does not lead to resistance build-up in target pests
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