Invasive Alien Species cost Africa’s agricultural sector an estimated USD $65.58 billion a year
CABI scientists have conducted the first comprehensive study on the economic impact of a range of Invasive Alien Species (IAS) on Africa’s agricultural sector, which they estimated to be USD $65.58 billion a year. This is equivalent to 2.5% of the gross domestic product of all African countries combined. The…
Student completes PhD on defence mechanisms of a major group of maize pests, the Diabroticina beetles
A PhD student – co-supervised by Professor Ted Turlings and Dr Carla Marques Arce of the University of Neuchâtel in Switzerland along with Dr Stefan Toepfer of CABI – has successfully defended her thesis on defence mechanisms of a major group of maize pests, the Diabroticina beetles. Dr Pamela Bruno…
FAO and CABI to support SADC Member States in fight against five key priority crop pests and diseases
CABI is working in partnership with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) to support the operationalization of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Regional Agricultural Policy that will help tackle five key crop pests and diseases affecting its 16 Member States. Dr Ivan Rwomushana and Dr…
CABI contributes to new research investigating impact of COVID-19 and locusts on farm households in Pakistan
CABI scientists have played a key role in new research from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) which highlights the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and locust invasions on farm households in the Punjab and Sindh provinces of Pakistan. Researchers from CABI’s centre in Pakistan provided expertise and support for 839…
CABI helps step up the fight to find suitable biocontrol for the Comstock mealybug in Swiss Canton of Valais
CABI scientist Dr Lukas Seehausen has joined colleagues from Agroscope, Andermatt Biocontrol and the Office of Arboriculture of the Canton Valais to step up the fight against the Comstock mealybug (Pseudococcus comstocki) with augmentative releases of a parasitic wasp. Twenty thousand parasitic wasps (Acerophagus malinus) were released in two plots…
New perspectives needed to boost success of Classical Biological Control to fight insect pests
A CABI-led study has revealed that the success of Classical Biological Control (CBC) in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East is only rarely dependent on the released biological control agent, but more often on other factors, such as the target pest, its host plant, or the circumstances of the…