Fungus to destroy insects â€" expert
Sep 29, 2008
COUNTRIES in the great lakes region will start using fungus to destroy grasshoppers, termites and locusts, the Ministry of Agriculture has said.
By Olandason Wanyama
COUNTRIES in the great lakes region will start using fungus to destroy grasshoppers, termites and locusts, the Ministry of Agriculture has said.
Kamayombi Bulegeya the official in charge of crop protection at the ministry, said the Desert Locust Control Organisation Eastern Africa (DLCO-EA) had carried out research on a fungus that could eliminate these pests.
“After we established that an outbreak is in an area we shall control the pests in their nymph stage,†Bulegeya said last week.
A team of scientists at the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology last year discovered a more efficient way to producebio-diesel, which uses lipase, an enzyme produced by the fungus, also known as Metarhizium anisopliae.
Bulegeya said, “the fungus grows in soil and causes disease in insects by acting as a parasite.â€
The fungus is known to infect over 200 insect species, including termites.
It is currently being used as a biological insecticide to control a number of pests such as grasshoppers and termites.â€
On whether the fungus controls malaria, Bulegeya said it was still under investigation.
Bulegeya said the fungus does not infect human beings or other animals.
Kenya’s assistant minister for agriculture, Gideon Nambuki, said the organisation was aiming at production of the fungus and that they were carrying out field tests on it.
COUNTRIES in the great lakes region will start using fungus to destroy grasshoppers, termites and locusts, the Ministry of Agriculture has said.
Kamayombi Bulegeya the official in charge of crop protection at the ministry, said the Desert Locust Control Organisation Eastern Africa (DLCO-EA) had carried out research on a fungus that could eliminate these pests.
“After we established that an outbreak is in an area we shall control the pests in their nymph stage,†Bulegeya said last week.
A team of scientists at the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology last year discovered a more efficient way to producebio-diesel, which uses lipase, an enzyme produced by the fungus, also known as Metarhizium anisopliae.
Bulegeya said, “the fungus grows in soil and causes disease in insects by acting as a parasite.â€
The fungus is known to infect over 200 insect species, including termites.
It is currently being used as a biological insecticide to control a number of pests such as grasshoppers and termites.â€
On whether the fungus controls malaria, Bulegeya said it was still under investigation.
Bulegeya said the fungus does not infect human beings or other animals.
Kenya’s assistant minister for agriculture, Gideon Nambuki, said the organisation was aiming at production of the fungus and that they were carrying out field tests on it.