This part of the workshop was led by Mr Douro Kpindou, an expert in the use of Metarhizium for locust and grasshopper control. He took part in the workshop by kind permission of IITA Cotonou, who are the leaders in the development and use of Metarhizium. They form part of the Lubilosa consortium.
The aim of this section of the workshop was to familiarise the participants with the use of Metarhizium (formulated as an oil flowable product - "Green Muscle") to the extent that they would be confident in undertaking large scale field trials in their own countries. An objective of the EMPRES programme is to promote the use of this product throughout the Desert Locust affected countries as a complement to synthetic pesticides.
The work was divided into three sections: a discussion on the use of this product; a practical application in the field; and a discussion of the early results obtained.
As no natural populations of Desert Locust were available at the time of the application, insects raised in the large-scale rearing facility at Akjoujt were used. These were released into the target area (a plot of 1 ha) before treatment. Particpants were shown how to formulate the product, how to apply and how to monitor the effectiveness.
Click on the photos to enlarge.
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