Predator prize
Dr Hans Herren, Director of the International Centre for Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE), has won the 1995 World Food Prize in recognition for his work in the field of biological control, in particular for his work on the control of a major pest of cassava. In the 1970s a higher-yielding variety of cassava was introduced into Africa from South America, but with it also came an unwelcome pest, Phenacoccus manihoti, the cassava mealybug. At that time in Africa, there was no natural predator of the mealybug and this factor allowed the pest to spread unchecked. Within ten years the pest, which had no natural enemy in Africa, spread rapidly and in some areas destroyed up to 80% of the cassava crop. Dr Herren, who _as then working with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), sought and succeeded in finding, breeding, rearing and releasing a natural predator of the mealybug, a parasitic wasp from Latin America. Within seven years the wasp brought the cassava mealybug under control in 30 countries. 'Dr Herren had helped avoid a disaster of enormous scale,' said former US President Mr Jimmy Carter when awarding the prize.
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| Format: | News Item biblioteca |
| Language: | English |
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Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation
1996
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/47246 http://collections.infocollections.org/ukedu/en/d/Jcta61e/ |
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