Research News

Joined-up action by FAO, IITA and CABI’s Global Plant Clinic has been instrumental in figuring out the identity of the insect devouring crops and contaminating water supplies in northern Liberia.

Press reports last week named Spodoptera sp, otherwise known as African armyworm, as the culprit that caused President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf to declare a national state of emergency in Liberia. However a preliminary identification report by IITA indicates that the insect is from the genus Achaea, most probably of the species Achaea catocaloides. Achaea and Spodoptera are two closely related moths but behave and feed differently.

"Correct taxonomic identification of this insect is crucial for managing this worrying problem," said Eric Boa, Head of the Global Plant Clinic (GPC) at CABI. "The wrong control programme can waste millions of dollars and cause new problems. Now efforts can be focused in the right direction."

"This is a wake-up call, a call that gives neighbouring countries adequate time to mount an early warning system to detect and manage this problem," said Braima James, Project Manager, IITA/USAID.

Staff from FAO and the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food Security in Sierra Leone, were deployed to Liberia last month to investigate the outbreak. The FAO then forwarded photos of the insect to CABI for identification. Further photos were then requested by CABI's GPC that were passed onto Georg Goergen, an expert entomologist (insect scientist) at IITA who made the diagnosis. Meanwhile the assumed identity could be confirmed via internet accessible type material from the Royal Museum for Central Africa, Belgium.

"The GPC acted as an international referral centre. We didn't have the expertise ourselves but we knew others who did. Full credit to IITA for their technical excellence and speedy response," said Eric Boa.

DFID support both the GPC and IITA through core funding.

More Information on R4D

• Details of DFID support to the CGIAR centre, IITA
• Global Plant Clinic Project Record and Reports and Documents. The Global Plant Clinic (GPC) is managed by CABI in alliance with Rothamsted Research and the Central Science Laboratory. The GPC coordinates and provides plant health services in Africa, Asia and Latin America. This includes a widely used expert diagnostic centre for all plants and types of problems. GPC are a leading publisher of new disease records. The GPC trains plant doctors and scientists, establishes and supervises plant health clinics and builds plant health systems. The GPC link extension and research and scientists and work with all sectors to improve regular and reliable access to technical support and advice for farmers. Their aim is to create durable plant health services for those who need them most.