In summer 2002, over 200,000 hectares of desperately needed wheat production in Afghanistan was rendered unusable after being infested by the insect "Sunn pest" (Eurygaster integriceps). It was about to happen all over again this spring, but the Central Asian Development Group (CADG) was able to save 12.8 million dollars worth of wheat in Helmand Province using Sunn Pest management information from the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA).

According to Steve Shaulis, director of CADG, "we launched an emergency program with our extension workers, supported by community volunteers, and our program covered 32,000 acres in around 7 days." The Sunn pest infestation was effectively controlled. The saved crops represent enough wheat to feed 300,000 Afghans for one year.

Along with the evolution of many of world's most important crops, the Central and West Asia also host many of wheat and barley's most damaging pests. Sunn pest damages crops by feeding on the plants and by injecting chemicals that cause the grain's gluten to

break down. If as little as 2 or 3% of the grain in a crop has been affected, the grain is unusable for baking.

This control of Sunn pest in Helmand was achieved by using specific quantities of recommended pesticides. For long-term management solutions, training will be provided by ICARDA in Integrated Pest Management in Kabul in June of 2003. As part of the short-term, high impact grant projects in Afghanistan, ICARDA scientist, Dr. Moustafa Bohssini is working with Dr. Bruce Parker of the University of Vermont, CABI Bioscience, the University of Greenwich and national agricultural programs in Iran, Turkey and Syria.

Integrated pest management (IPM) calls upon comprehensive biological and behavioral knowledge of the insect, the natural enemies of Sunn pest, farming practices, host plant resistance, and entomopathogenic fungi as well as conventional use of pesticides to combat infestations and the damage to crops. By using this approach, scientists hope to more effectively control infestations and decrease dependence on expensive and environmentally harmful chemicals that may also create resistance in the insect population.

Publications on Sunn pest control are being translated into Pashto and Dari and will be made available in Afghanistan this summer. The equipment and library for an Integrated Pest Management Lab has been ordered and is to be installed in Kabul with cooperation from the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock. Twenty Afghan agronomists, including representatives from CADG, have been selected for the summer IPM training.

The IPM Approach
Trainees will learn how to conduct field assessments, which are necessary to reveal the degree of infestation and overwintering sites where Sunn Pest can be controlled before migrating to crop areas in the spring. By training farmers to identify these sites, they can calculate the likelihood of infestation, and begin determining the economic threshold for application of pesticides or utilize other methods for controlling the insects before they cause crop damage.

As another option, ICARDA scientists have already discovered a source of resistance to Sunn pest in a wild relative of wheat. Plant breeders are crossing these lines with Afghanistan-adapted bread wheat varieties in an effort to develop crops for release to farmers in infested regions.

With training in Integrated Pest Management, farmers can rely on less toxic, less expensive measures to control this destructive crop pest. In the future, dependence on government-funded pesticides will diminish along with the damage caused to the environment. Afghan farmers will soon have access to safer, healthier and more effective means of protecting their crops.

For more information contact:
Dr Mustaphaa El-Bouhssini (M.Bohssini@CGIAR.ORG)