An AIT project on fruit flies in South and Southeast Asian countries
has secured a grant from the Global Horticulture
Initiative/ICDF, Taiwan. Titled “Area-Wide Integrated Pest
Management of Fruit Flies in South and Southeast Asian Countries (with
special emphasis on Mekong Countries)”, the project was submitted by
the Agriculture Systems and Engineering (ASE) Field of Study, School of
Environment, Resources and Development (SERD).
The proposal was submitted by Dr. Prabhat Kumar with comments from
Prof. Lai, Visiting Professor at ASE/SERD, Dr. S L Ranamukhaarachchi
and others in June 2009.
The project will focus on the adaptive research, population
monitoring, developing Integrated Pest Management (IPM) strategies, and
transfer of knowledge to collaborating countries for capacity building
through Training of Trainers (TOT) for IPM extension workers. The
extension workers will in turn assist farmers in adopting and adapting
these strategies using FFS (Farmer Field School’s). The project assumes
special relevance as the fruit fly severely reduces the quality of
produce apart from limiting trade opportunities on account of plant
quarantine laws. It is expected that this pilot project would enable
farmers to produce healthy and readily tradable horticultural produce
for intra and inter-regional trades.
ASE FoS is partnering with the Regional FAO IPM Programme; National
IPM Programmes in Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam; Department of Agriculture,
India; Bio-Control Research Laboratories, Bangalore, India; Asia
Pacific Seed Association (APSA),
Bangkok; and National Biological Control Laboratory, Thailand. The
project will work through ICDF funded activities in Indonesia also.
The project worth 250,000 USD will last two years starting January
2010. The project will be managed by Dr. Kumar as IPM Expert and
Coordinator from ASE field of study under advisory support of ASE
coordinator, Prof. V. M. Salokhe.