Taskforce Appointed to Develop a Seed Technology Protocol for The ICIPE

Abstract

Over the years the Crop Pests Research Programme (CPRP) has been working on strategies for the development of integrated pest management systems for, particularly, crop borers of some of the major staple food crops: maize, sorghum and cowpea. This work forms one part of the JCIPE goal to make available to subsistence farmers in the tropics environmentally safe and economically feasible packages for the management of insects which are pests of crops, or are vectors of human and livestock diseases. The work has involved, inter alia, screening maize, sorghum and cowpea germ plasm obtained from diverse sources for resistance/tolerance to such crop borers of major economic importance as Chilo parte flus and Busseola tusca of maize and sorghum; and Maruca testula.Lis and aphids of cowpea. The success of these efforts is shown in the identification of a number of promising new maize, sorghum and cowpea cultivars that are resistant/tolerant to some of the target insect pests.