Parastic Wasp Release Promotion Indonesia

Transcription

Credit: Georgina Smith/CIAT
Parastic Wasp Release
Promotion Indonesia
Final Media Coverage Compilation
October 2014
Table of Contents
Press Release .......................................................................................................................................... 3
Journalist Interest ................................................................................................................................. 6
Requested Interview.....................................................................................................................................................................6
Requested Materials.....................................................................................................................................................................6
Attended Release Event ..............................................................................................................................................................7
Wires.......................................................................................................................................................... 8
Agence France Presse.................................................................................................................................................. 8
Associated Press (USA)............................................................................................................................................. 10
Associated Press (USA)—German ....................................................................................................................... 15
Print and/or Online ............................................................................................................................ 17
Financial Times (UK).................................................................................................................................................. 17
Kompas (Indonesia)................................................................................................................................................... 18
Kompas Sians (Indonesia) ....................................................................................................................................... 20
RTÉ News (Ireland).................................................................................................................................................... 24
Sciences Et Avenir (France) ..................................................................................................................................... 26
TheinNhien.net (Vietnam) ...................................................................................................................................... 27
Wall Street Journal (USA) ......................................................................................................................................... 29
Wall Street Journal (Indonesia) ............................................................................................................................. 31
Broadcast ............................................................................................................................................... 32
Al Jazeera ........................................................................................................................................................................ 32
Australian Broadcasting Corporation................................................................................................................. 35
BBC News Day .............................................................................................................................................................. 37
Bloomberg TV (USA).................................................................................................................................................. 38
Deutsche Welle (Germany) —Indonesian ........................................................................................................ 39
Trades ..................................................................................................................................................... 41
Edge Review .................................................................................................................................................................. 41
Inside Science (USA) .................................................................................................................................................. 43
2
Media Coverage Compilation
Press Release
For more information, please contact:
Georgina Smith at +62 (0) 81283035565 or [email protected]
Saburi Chirimi at +254 721569369 or [email protected]
Editor’s note: Photos can be downloaded here.
EMBARGOED UNTIL 8.00 AM JAKARTA/01.00 HOURS GMT, 24th SEPTEMBER
2014
Scientists begin first phase of killer wasp release to thwart
food security threat in Indonesia
Official biological control clamp-down on insect invader to protect livelihoods of
millions of cassava farmers across Indonesia
BOGOR, INDONESIA (24th September 2014)—Scientists will today release 2,000 parasitic
wasps in a confined field as part of a first phase towards thwarting an invading cassava pest
poised to devastate the country’s second major staple crop after rice: cassava. The initial
release is part of a broader campaign—allowing the wasps to reproduce naturally and ensure
they perform well in the local conditions before an open field release goes forward. The invasive
insect is jeopardizing the growing starch industry, which consumes one-third of the country’s
cassava production.
Indonesia, among the world’s major cassava producers, plants roughly one million hectares of
cassava every year—half of which is directly consumed as a staple food. The country is also a
major cassava importer—the crop is used in the starch industry to make products from noodles
to pharmaceuticals, supporting smallholder incomes.
“Cassava directly supports millions of small-scale farmers in Indonesia and has enjoyed a
period of being relatively pest-free from certain threats,” said Dr. Aunu Rauf, professor of
agricultural entomology at Bogor Agricultural University in Indonesia, co-leading the wasp
release with the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) and the Food and
Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
“But now, pests have caught up,” he added. “We have to take rapid, environmentally sound
measures to ensure livelihoods are protected and Indonesia’s food security is not compromised.
If we don’t act now, this could be a major blow to the country’s cassava industry and to the
millions of farmers who depend on this crop for their incomes.”
Cassava pink mealybug (Phenacoccus manihoti) is one of the most destructive cassava pests
in the world, capable of reducing cassava yields by up to 84 percent. It was first reported in
Thailand in 2008, subsequently spreading throughout the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS)—a
region that includes Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam and the Yunnan Province in
China. Now, it appears in Indonesia’s major cassava producing areas, including Lampung and
3
Java. Although the current area affected is still low, the pest can spread fast if not managed—as
happened in Thailand.
“Cassava is originally from South America, so it makes sense that the crop’s pests come from
there too,” said Dr. Kris Wyckhuys, CIAT’s entomologist in Asia. “With no effective threats in
their newly invaded continent, cassava mealybugs have been living in the lap of luxury first in
Africa, and now in Asia. It’s time to help nature along and send in mealybugs’ natural parasitoid:
the Anagyrus lopezi wasp,” he said.
The tiny, two-millimeter A. lopezi wasps, officially released on Wednesday, deposit their eggs
into the mealybug. The hatching larvae consume the mealybugs from inside, slowly mummifying
and killing them. The wasps have already proven their economic clout in sub-Saharan Africa,
where they saved a whopping US$20 billion in damages to the cassava industry and restored
food security for millions of smallholder farmers following a continent-wide airplane release
operation in the 1980s, exceeding the cost of research by a factor of 200.
But since then, without adequate checks, the mealybug has continued to spread in Southeast
Asia, probably hitchhiking on infected cassava as it was transported across countries and
continents. In 2009, Thailand’s Department of Agricultural Extension, Department of Agriculture
and Thai Tapioca Development Institute discovered the mealybug and teamed up with the
International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), CIAT and FAO to release the wasp in
Thailand, where mealybugs had already reduced cassava yields by around 20 to 30 percent.
Mealybugs have moved into Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, and some wasps have also moved
into those neighboring countries, where they can feed on their favorite prey. But now scientists
in the region are launching a sting operation to stamp out the mealybug as it reaches the
region’s most important cassava producing country for food security: Indonesia.
FAO assisted GMS countries through a project to manage the pink mealybug by introducing the
wasp in collaboration with CIAT, IITA and various stakeholders in GMS countries with success.
Given the successful practice, the wasp was imported into Indonesia from Thailand in March
2014 with assistance of FAO and CIAT. “These wasps pose no threat to humans, animals or
other insects and feed only on cassava mealybug,” said Dr. Aunu Rauf. “This method of
biological control is better than sweeping fields with pesticides, which could have disastrous
environmental impacts and cost the country’s smallholder cassava growers.”
A network of researchers spearheaded by CIAT and regional partners are staying ahead of the
curve by investing in diagnostic and training programs to speed up pest and disease detection.
Scientists are developing low-cost rapid threat detection kits, while gaining valuable insights into
the biology and ecology of non-native cassava threats.
“Invasive species have become an increasing threat to global economies, societies and
ecosystems,” said Jan Willem Ketelaar, a FAO expert on integrated pest management.
“Throughout the world, a diverse and growing group of invasive organisms is causing billiondollar losses in direct management costs, in addition to inflicting substantial effects on the
environment and trade,” he said.
Dr. Rangaswamy Muniappan, director of the Integrated Pest Management Innovation Lab,
Virginia Tech, and funded by USAID—a key partner in the release operation—said: “Ultimately,
both farmers and researchers have to stay ahead of the curve to respond to this and other
4
possible destructive cassava threats, now and in future, in swift and environmentally friendly
ways.”
The parasitoid wasp release will be preceded by workshops on mealybug identification and
wasp-rearing, to support scale-up operations. In the long term, CIAT together with national and
international partners will continue investigating more resilient cassava varieties and better crop
and integrated pest management systems, as well as quarantine measures to stem the spread
of pests and diseases in the region.
“This sting operation gives the region’s cassava farmers a reprieve from a devastating pest. But
we know it is not the last such threat,” said Dr. Wyckhuys. “Scientists and farmers must
continuously advance the science of crop production and protection to keep ahead of even the
seemingly innocent mealybug.”
###
The International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) is a not-for-profit organization that
conducts socially and environmentally progressive research aimed at reducing hunger and
poverty and preserving natural resources in developing countries. www.ciat.cgiar.org
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)’s main goals are the
eradication of hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition; the elimination of poverty and the driving
forward of economic and social progress for all; and, the sustainable management and
utilization of natural resources, including land, water, air, climate and genetic resources for the
benefit of present and future generations. www.fao.org
CGIAR established in 1971, is a strategic partnership of countries, international and regional
organizations and private foundations supporting the work of an alliance of 15 international
Centers. In collaboration with national agricultural research systems, civil society and the private
sector, the CGIAR fosters sustainable agricultural growth through high-quality science aimed at
benefiting the poor through stronger food security, better human nutrition and health, higher
incomes and improved management of natural resources. www.cgiar.org
Integrated Pest Management Innovation Lab (IPM IL) is a USAID-funded program that
conducts research in developing countries in the tropics on methods that are economical,
environmentally safe, alleviate health hazards, and that are socially acceptable for the
management of crop pests. www.usaid.gov
5
Journalist Interest
Requested Interview
Outlet
Journalist
Spokesperson
Al Jazeera
Dana MacLean
Aunu Rauf, Kris Wyckhuys and
farmers
Asahi Shimbun
(Indonesia)
Endang Roh
Suciati
Aunu Rauf, Kris Wyckhuys, Jan
Willem Ketelaar and farmers
Associated Press (USA)
Margie Mason
Kris Wyckhuys
Australian Associated
Press
Gabrielle Dunlevy Australian Rural Economist (TBA)
Australian Broadcasting
Corporation
George Roberts
farmers
BBC World Service Radio Karen Chan
Newsday Programme
(UK)
Kris Wyckhuys
Edge Review (Hong Kong) Simon
Roughneen
farmers
Financial Times (UK)
Ben Bland
Kris Wyckhuys
InsideScience (USA)
Ker Than
Kris Wyckhuys
International New York
Times
Joe Cochrane
Kris Wyckhuys
Nature (USA)
David Cyranoski
Kris Wyckhuys
Wall Street Journal (USA)
Sara Schonhardt
Aunu Rauf
Requested Materials
Outlet
Journalist
Agence France-Presse
Angela Dewan
Al Jazeera
BBC (UK)
De Volkskrant (Netherlands)
Deutsche Welle Radio (Germany)
Dow Jones (USA)
Dana MacLean
Karishma Vaswani
Michel Maas
Clea Broadhurst
I Made Sentana
6
Outlet
Journalist
Kompas (Indonesia)
Ichwan Susanto
Malaysia Star
Reuters (UK)
Scientific American (USA)
Straits Times (Singapore)
Natalie Heng
Michael Taylor
David Biello
Zakir Hussain
Attended Release Event
Outlet
Journalist
Asahi Shimbun (Indonesia)
Endang Roh Suciati
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
George Roberts
Associated Press
Margie Mason
Edge Review (Hong Kong)
Simon Roughneen
7
Wires
Agence France Presse
Wasp 'SWAT team' to the rescue of Indonesian cassava crop
September 24, 2014
An "eco-friendly SWAT team" of 2,000 tiny wasps will be released in Indonesia Wednesday to battle bugs
threatening to devour cassava crops, a major staple and source of income for millions, scientists said.
The two-millimetre A. Lopezi parasitic wasps work by laying larvae that consumes the mealybugs from
the inside and mummifies them. The wasps need to consume the pest to survive.
The cassava pink mealybug is native to South America, as is cassava, and is one of the world's most
destructive pests preying on the crop, according to the team of scientists behind the wasp release.
It likely travelled to Africa and Asia by hitchhiking on infected cassava as it was transported across
countries and continents.
Scientists behind the release, from the Colombia-based International Center for Tropical Agriculture
(CIAT), Indonesia's Bogor Agricultural University and the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation, have
dubbed the wasps an "eco-friendly SWAT team" and stress they are harmless to humans and animals.
The mealybugs "have been living in the lap of luxury" in their new environments, where they face no
effective threats, according to Kris Wyckhuys, an entomologist from CIAT focusing on Asia. "It's time to
help nature along."
The wasps, which are native to Central America, will first be released in a confined field on the outskirts of
Jakarta on Wednesday afternoon, allowing them to reproduce naturally and to be monitored in local
conditions before being unleashed in an open field.
Indonesia is one of the world's biggest cassava producers and each year plants some one million
hectares (2.5 million acres) of the crop. It is the second most-consumed staple after rice in the developing
nation of 250 million people, which struggles with malnutrition.
It is consumed as a vegetable but also processed into starch to make a variety of products from noodles
to pharmaceuticals.
The mealybugs are capable of reducing cassava yields by up to 84 percent, and were first reported as a
major problem in Asia in Thailand in 2008.
The pest has also been detected in other Asian countries including Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.
Although the current area affected in Indonesia is still low, the scientists said the pest can spread fast if
not managed, as Thailand found. Wasps were successfully used in Thailand to tackle the problem.
"If we don't act now, this could be a major blow to the country's cassava industry and to the millions of
farmers who depend on this crop for their incomes," said Aunu Rauf, an entomologist with Bogor
Agricultural University.
8
A massive aerial wasp drop in the 1980s in sub-Saharan Africa was credited with saving the cassava
industry from $20 billion in potential damages.
http://www.afp.com/en/node/2870055
Select online pick-up
Bangkok Post (Thailand)
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/world/434061/wasp-swat-team-to-the-rescue-of-indonesian-cassavacrop
Business Insider (USA)
http://www.businessinsider.com/afp-wasp-swat-team-to-the-rescue-of-indonesian-cassava-crop-2014-9
Echo NetDaily (Indonesia)
http://www.echo.net.au/2014/09/wasp-swat-team-rescue-indon-crop/
Malaysian Insider
http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/business/article/wasp-swat-team-to-the-rescue-of-indonesiancassava-crop
Middleburg Observer (South Africa)
http://mobserver.co.za/afp/?afp-story-id=19514
MSN News (New Zealand)
http://news.msn.co.nz/article.aspx?id=8910714
Nanaimo Daily News (Canada)
http://www.nanaimodailynews.com/business/tiny-wasps-tasked-with-saving-indonesia-s-cassava-cropfrom-devastating-pest-1.1386714
Rappler.com
http://www.rappler.com/world/regions/asia-pacific/indonesia/70045-wasp-rescue-indonesia-cassava-crops
Short Science (China)
http://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/technology/article/1602145/short-science-september-28-2014
Strait Times (Singapore)
http://www.straitstimes.com/news/asia/south-east-asia/story/wasp-swat-team-the-rescue-indonesiancassava-crop-20140924
Yahoo News
http://news.yahoo.com/wasp-swat-team-rescue-indonesian-cassava-crop-130551412.html
9
Associated Press (USA)
Indonesia enlists wasps in war on crop killer
By Margie Mason
BOGOR, Indonesia (AP) -- They are the size of a pinhead and don't even pack a sting, but these tiny
wasps are cold-blooded killers nonetheless. They work as nature's SWAT team, neutralizing a pest that
threatens to destroy one of the developing world's most important staple foods: cassava.
The wasps are being released in Indonesia, the latest country threatened by the mealybug. It's a chalky
white insect shaped like a pill that's been making its way across Southeast Asia's fields for the past six
years.
But unlike in Thailand, where infestations reached some 250,000 hectares (618,000 acres) of crops
grown mostly as part of the country's huge export business, cassava in Indonesia is a vital food source
second only to rice. That makes the mealybug a serious threat to food security in Indonesia, which
already has one of the region's highest child malnutrition rates.
The parasitic wasps, or Anagyrus lopezi, need the mealybug to survive. Females lay their eggs inside the
insect and as the larvae grow, they eat the bug from the inside out, slowly killing it until there's nothing left
but its mummified shell.
On Wednesday, scientists will put 2,000 wasps into a holding cage at an affected field in Bogor, on the
outskirts of Indonesia's capital, Jakarta. They will be monitored to see how well they handle local
conditions as they multiply to an expected 300,000 over the next month before being released into the
wild to start their relentless killing spree.
It's unclear how much damage mealybugs have already caused to Indonesia's crops, but infestations
have been reported on the main cassava-growing island of Java and in parts of Sumatra, said Kris
Wyckhuys, an entomologist at the Colombia-based International Center for Tropical Agriculture, which is
helping to coordinate the release.
He said the idea is to introduce the wasps early in a pre-emptive strike because the pests if left
unchecked can destroy more than 80 percent of a harvest by sucking the plant's sap until it withers and
dies.
Indonesia is one of the world's top producers of cassava, planting around 1 million hectares (2.5 million
acres) a year, half of which is eaten as a staple food across the sprawling archipelago of 240 million
people.
The long roots of the shrub-like plant are a major source of carbohydrates and provide an array of
nutrients. Like the potato, cassava is a versatile starch that's an essential part of daily meals across much
of the developing world. In Indonesia it is boiled, fried, made into noodles, crackers and even cakes.
Known elsewhere as manioc, tapioca and yucca, it is also made into livestock feed and used as an
ingredient in a variety of products worldwide, ranging from lipstick and artificial sweeteners to paint and
glucose IV drips.
Portuguese traders first brought the plant from South America centuries ago, and many of the world's
poorest people today depend on it for survival. It grows well in bad soil conditions and doesn't need much
water, making it ideal for hot areas hit by drought.
10
It is especially important in Africa, which suffered a massive mealybug attack in the 1980s. Wasps were
first imported there from Paraguay and released across the continent by airplane. The method was
effective, wiping out up to 95 percent of the bugs in some areas, and has been credited with averting
famine and saving $20 billion.
Wyckhuys said the wasps have not created any unintended problems within ecosystems since
mealybugs only eat cassava and the tiny wasps only eat mealybugs. However, he said it's impossible to
erradicate all of the pests because the wasps must keep some hosts alive in order to keep from dying out
themselves.
Mealybugs, or Phenacoccus manihoti, are believed to have hitchhiked into Thailand in 2008, most likely
aboard cassava cuttings transported from Africa. But without the wasps to keep them in check, they
quickly spread to Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.
Small releases have been conducted within those countries, and the wasps imported in 2009 to Thailand
have also slowly migrated into neighboring countries.
The wasps have vastly improved the problem in Thailand, the worlds's largest cassava exporter, but not
eliminated it entirely. Several wasp releases are planned in different parts of Indonesia using insects
brought from Thailand.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_INDONESIA_WASPS_AT_WAR?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME
&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
ABC News (USA)
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/tiny-wasp-swat-teams-protect-indonesian-crop-25717989
Atlanta Journal Constitution (USA)
http://www.myajc.com/ap/ap/top-news/tiny-wasp-swat-teams-to-protect-indonesian-crop/nhS3b/
Beaufort Gazette (USA)
http://www.islandpacket.com/2014/09/24/3331663/tiny-wasp-swat-teams-to-protect.html
BlueRidgeNow.com (USA)
http://www.blueridgenow.com/article/20140924/API/309249926
Channel NewsAsia (Singapore)
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/lifestyle/wasp-swat-team-to-the/1379000.html
CharlotteObserver.com(USA)
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2014/09/24/5195612/tiny-wasp-swat-teams-toprotect.html#.VCLYUfmSySo
China Post
http://www.chinapost.com.tw/asia/indonesia/2014/09/25/417966/Tiny-wasp.htm
Chron (USA)
http://www.chron.com/news/science/article/Tiny-wasp-SWAT-teams-to-protect-Indonesian-crop5776487.php
Contra Costa Times (USA)
http://www.contracostatimes.com/science/ci_26595252/tiny-wasp-swat-teams-protect-indonesian-crop
11
Courier (USA)
http://thecourier.com/business-news/2014/09/24/indonesia-enlists-wasps-in-war-on-crop-killer/
Daily Mail (UK)
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/ap/article-2767558/Tiny-wasp-SWAT-teams-protect-Indonesiancrop.html
Daily Reporter (USA)
http://www.greenfieldreporter.com/view/story/859f47c92c9d47c5a3659c2a9b687f7a/AS--IndonesiaWasps-at-War
Decatur Daily.com
http://www.decaturdaily.com/business/article_d6afb3c2-97e3-5c31-b2bc-d021c5460279.html?mode=jqm
Eagle.com
http://www.theeagle.com/news/business/indonesia-enlists-wasps-in-war-on-crop-killer/article_24b5f3af3df4-5e09-ac60-e18241d65095.html
Fox News (USA)
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/09/24/tiny-wasp-tasked-with-saving-indonesia-cassava-crop-fromfuzzy-devastating-pest/
Fresh Plaza (Netherlands)
http://www.freshplaza.com/article/127605/Indonesia-Tiny-wasp-tasked-with-saving-Indonesias-cassavacrop
Hutchnews.com
http://www.hutchnews.com/news/business/wasps-tasked-with-saving-indonesia-s-cassavacrop/article_243e12ed-207b-5b95-91a6-7e53b23b9dfc.html
GulfNews.com (Dubai)
http://gulfnews.com/news/world/other-world/wasps-deployed-to-save-indonesia-cassava-crop-1.1389417
Hindu (India)
http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/tiny-wasps-protect-indonesian-crop/article6442848.ece
Hornet (Turkey)
http://www.fchornet.com/breaking-news/bogor-indonesia-ap-they-are-the-size-of-a-h5329.html
Itemlive.com (USA)
http://www.itemlive.com/business/indonesia-enlists-wasps-in-war-on-crop-killer/article_d6b757c5-d5145258-b348-dc8e3c9d5f82.html
Japan Times
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2014/09/26/world/science-health-world/wasp-swat-teams-protectindonesian-cassava-crops/#.VCUeu_mSySo
Kansas City Star (USA)
http://www.kansascity.com/news/business/national-international/article2224311.html
KATC.com
http://www.katc.com/news/indonesia-enlists-wasps-in-war-on-crop-killer/
KSWO-TV (USA)
http://www.kswo.com/story/5441509/kswo-tv
12
Kulr8.com (USA)
http://www.kulr8.com/story/26611657/indonesia-enlists-wasps-in-war-on-crop-killer
Miami Herald (USA)
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/article2224311.html
Mining Journal (USA)
http://www.miningjournal.net/page/content.detail/id/612400/Indonesia-enlists-wasps-in-war-on-cropkiller.html?isap=1&nav=5016
Morung Express (India)
http://www.morungexpress.com/people-life-etc/122247.html
MSN Money (USA)
http://money.msn.com/business-news/article.aspx?feed=AP&date=20140924&id=17957349
Newser (USA)
http://www.newser.com/article/c52fcaa386074294aa5caf3c85d79da5/tiny-wasps-tasked-with-savingindonesias-cassava-crop-from-devastating-pest.html
NBC10.com
http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/Around-the-World-September-24-2014-276900351.html
NorthwestGeorgianews.com (USA)
http://www.northwestgeorgianews.com/associated_press/business/state_national/indonesia-enlistswasps-in-war-on-crop-killer/article_60e6d3a6-441e-11e4-9e02-001a4bcf6878.html
Omaha.com (USA)
http://www.omaha.com/news/world/indonesia-enlists-wasps-in-war-on-crop-killer/article_5acaf26a-a8fb5206-93d7-d4b9b2da38fc.html
Palm Beach Post (USA)
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/ap/ap/business/indonesia-enlists-wasps-in-war-on-crop-killer/pCQbMX/
Philly.com (USA)
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/nation_world/20140924_ap_859f47c92c9d47c5a3659c2a9b687f7a.html
?c=r
Phys.org
http://phys.org/news/2014-09-tiny-wasp-swat-teams-indonesian.html
Quad City Business Journal (USA)
http://qctimes.com/business/indonesia-enlists-wasps-in-war-on-crop-killer/article_573d50d3-205e-550dbf0d-72156a8cbe7f.html
Republic (USA)
http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/859f47c92c9d47c5a3659c2a9b687f7a/AS--Indonesia-Wasps-atWar
San Antonio Express News (USA)
http://www.expressnews.com/news/science/article/Tiny-wasp-SWAT-teams-to-protect-Indonesian-crop5776487.php#/0
13
San Francisco Chronicle (USA)
http://www.sfgate.com/news/science/article/Tiny-wasp-SWAT-teams-to-protect-Indonesian-crop5776487.php
TribTown (USA)
http://www.tribtown.com/view/story/859f47c92c9d47c5a3659c2a9b687f7a/AS--Indonesia-Wasps-at-War
Tuoitrenews.vn (Vietnam)
http://tuoitrenews.vn/international/22697/wasp-swat-team-to-the-rescue-of-indonesian-cassava-crop
Tuscaloosa News (USA)
http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/20140924/API/309249926?tc=ar
Union-Tribune San Diego (USA)
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2014/sep/23/tiny-wasp-swat-teams-to-protect-indonesian-crop/
WHDH TV (USA)
http://www.whdh.com/story/26611657/tiny-wasp-swat-teams-to-protect-indonesian-crop
Wichita Eagle (USA)
http://www.kansas.com/news/business/article2224311.html
WSVN.com (USA)
http://www.wsvn.com/story/26611657/tiny-wasp-swat-teams-to-protect-indonesian-crop
Xfinity (USA)
http://xfinity.comcast.net/slideshow/articles/news-general/news-general-20140924-AS--IndonesiaWasps.at.War/
Yahoo News
http://news.yahoo.com/tiny-wasp-swat-teams-protect-indonesian-crop-052824956.html
14
Associated Press (USA)—German
Killerwespen sollen Nahrungsmittel retten
27. September 2014 20:40
von Margie Mason, AP - Eklige kleine Schädlinge befallen in Südostasien eine der wichtigsten
Nutzpflanzen. Das beste Gegenmittel bietet die Natur selbst – angeblich ganz ohne Nebenwirkungen.
Sie haben die Grösse eines Stecknadelkopfes und nicht einmal einen Stachel. Doch die Mini-Wespen
sind eiskalte Killer. Ihr Einsatzgebiet: Indonesien. Ihr Feind: der Schädling Phenacoccus manihoti. Ihre
Mission: die Ausrottung der Plage, die den Maniok befällt, eines der wichtigsten Grundnahrungsmittel in
den Entwicklungsländern.
In den vergangenen sechs Jahren hat sich die kalkweisse Laus, die so gross wie eine Pille ist, über
Südostasien ausgebreitet. In Thailand, dem weltgrössten Maniok-Produzenten, sind mittlerweile 250'000
Hektar befallen. Doch das Land exportiert die Pflanze überwiegend. In Indonesien dagegen ist die
stärkehaltige Wurzelknolle nach Reis das zweitwichtigste Nahrungsmittel. Das macht den Schädling dort
zu einer ernsten Bedrohung – in einem Land, das schon jetzt eine der höchsten Quoten von
unterernährten Kindern hat.
Die parasitären Wespen, mit biologischem Namen Anagyrus lopezi, brauchen die Schädlinge, um zu
überleben. Die Weibchen legen ihre Eier in die Insekten, und wenn die Larven wachsen, fressen sie die
Läuse von innen auf – so lange, bis nichts mehr von ihnen übrig ist ausser einer mumifizierten Hülle.
Die Jagd beginnt
Am Mittwoch setzten Wissenschaftler 2000 Wespen in einem Käfig auf einem befallenen Feld in Bogor
aus, einem Vorort der Hauptstadt Jakarta. Sie wollen beobachten, wie sich die Tiere in dem Behälter an
die lokalen Bedingungen anpassen, während sie sich über den kommenden Monat auf schätzungsweise
300‘000 Exemplare vermehren. Erst dann sollen sie ausgesetzt werden, um Jagd auf die Schädlinge zu
machen.
Derzeit sei noch nicht genau abzusehen, wie viel Schaden die Läuse bereits in Indonesien angerichtet
hätten, sagt Kris Wyckhuys, Insektenforscher vom Internationalen Zentrum für tropische Landwirtschaft in
Kolumbien. Er ist an dem Projekt beteiligt. Allerdings seien die Hauptanbaugebiete auf der Insel Java und
in Teilen von Sumatra befallen.
Indonesien ist einer der grössten Produzenten von Maniok weltweit. Pro Jahr werden damit rund eine
Million Hektar bewirtschaftet, die Hälfte davon wird von den 240 Millionen Einwohnern des Landes
gegessen. Die langen, fingerdicken Wurzeln – auch als Kassave, Tapioka oder Yuca bekannt – werden
gekocht, gebraten, zu Nudeln, Crackern oder sogar zu Kuchen verarbeitet. Auch als Basis für Süssstoff,
Kosmetika oder Farbstoffe dient die Pflanze. Und häufig wird Maniok zudem an Tiere verfüttert.
Unproblematische Helfer
Die Wespen kamen erstmals in den 80er-Jahren in Afrika zum Einsatz, das damals von einer massiven
Läuseplage heimgesucht wurde. Damals wurden sie aus Paraguay eingeflogen und mit Flugzeugen über
den betroffenen Gebieten ausgesetzt. Die Methode erwies sich als Erfolg. Bis zu 95 Prozent der
Schädlinge wurden vernichtet, Hungersnöte verhindert und damit Kosten von mehreren Milliarden Dollar
gespart.
15
Wyckhuys sagt, bislang gebe es keine Hinweise auf ungewollte Probleme im Ökosystem. Die Schädlinge
fressen nur Maniok und die Wespen nur die Schädlinge. Komplett ausrotten kann man die Läuse so
allerdings auch nicht, denn sonst würde man auch den Wespen ihre Lebensgrundlage entziehen.
Die Phenacoccus manihoti ist wohl im Jahr 2008 nach Thailand eingeschleppt worden und hat sich von
dort schnell auf Laos, Kambodscha und Vietnam ausgebreitet. Die Wespen wurden erst ein Jahr später
nach Thailand gebracht und haben dort das Problem deutlich verringert. Nun sollen sie in Indonesien
ihren tödlichen Auftrag ausführen – zum Wohle der Menschen.
http://www.20min.ch/wissen/news/story/Killerwespen-sollen-Nahrungsmittel-retten-24790743
16
Print and/or Online
Financial Times (UK)
Indonesia deploys tiny killer wasps to save cassava crop
By Ben Bland
Scientists are looking to a tiny variety of killer wasp to spare Indonesia from the ravages of a bug that is
threatening the key cassava crop in south-east Asia’s biggest economy.
Since it arrived in Indonesia in 2010, the cassava mealybug – a small white insect that feeds on plants –
had spread to the country’s main growing regions for cassava, which is a staple for tens of millions of
people and generates around $1bn a year from industrial production.
When it hit Africa in the 1980s and Thailand in 2009, the mealybug cut yields by up to 80 per cent.
But scientists found a pin-head size parasitic wasp that was effective in wiping out the mealybugs by
direct attack and by planting its eggs inside the pest.
When the wasp eggs become larvae, they eat their way out of the mealybug, killing it in the process. The
wasps do not sting humans or other animals and scientists have found no negative consequences from
mass releases of the insects in Africa and Thailand.
“Cassava is a very important crop for Indonesia from a food security and economic angle and the
mealybug is the number one threat to agriculture in Indonesia,” said Kris Wyckhuys, a cassava
entomologist at the Hanoi-based International Center for Tropical Agriculture.
Wyckhuys is working with international and Indonesian scientists to breed the killer wasps for Indonesia,
starting with a controlled release on Wednesday.
He said the wasps represented one of the best success stories for biological methods of pest control,
protecting African nations from $20bn of potential damage by eradicating the mealybug threat.
Aunu Rauf, a professor of entomology at the Bogor Agricultural Institute, said the scientists planned to
unleash the wasps in the main cassava-growing areas of the country once they had assessed the results
of the controlled release.
http://blogs.ft.com/beyond-brics/2014/09/24/indonesia-deploys-tiny-killer-wasps-to-save-cassava-crop/
17
Kompas (Indonesia)
Basmi Hama Singkong, IPB Lepaskan 2.000 Tawon
KOMPAS.com - Institut Pertanian Bogor (IPB) bekerjasama dengan International Center for Tropical
Agriculture (CIAT) dan Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) melepaskan tawon spesies Anagyrus
lopezi untuk mencegah penyebaran hama kutu putih (Phenacoccus manihot).
Pelepasan yang dilakukan kali ini masih dalam tahap uji lapangan. Artinya, pelepasan dilakukan di
lingkungan tertutup. Jumlah tawon yang dilepaskan 2.000. Pelepasan dilakukan di Desa Cikeas,
Kecamatan Sukaraja, Bogor.
Dari uji lapangan, akan dilihat keefektifan tawon mengurangi serangan hama kutu putih. Bila terbukti
efektif dan mendapatkan izin dari Kementerian Pertanian, tawon akan dilepaskan ke sejumlah daerah.
Kutu putih adalah hama paling berbahaya pada tanaman singkong. Hama itu dilaporkan mampu
menurunkan produksi singkong hingga 84 persen. Diduga, hama ini berasal dari Amerika Selatan, tempat
asal tanaman singkong.
Serangan kutu putih di Asia
dilaporkan pertama kali di
Thailand pada tahun 2008.
Sejak saat itu, hama
menyebar ke Myanmar,
Kamboja, Laos, hingga
China. Baru-baru ini, kutu
putih ditemukan di tanaman
singkong di Lampung dan
sejumlah wilayah di Jawa.
Aunu Rauf, ahli serangga
pertanian dari IPB
mengatakan, pelepasan
tawon untuk menumpas
Tanaman singkong yang terserang kutu putih (Phenacoccus manihot)
kutu putih ini penting.
Indonesia adalah salah satu produsen singkong terbesar di dunia. Ada satu juta hektar lahan di Indonesia
yang ditanami singkong. Kalau hama tak diatasi, kerugian bakal besar.
“Singkong telah mendukung jutaan petani skala kecil di Indonesia dan telah menikmati periode yang
relatif bebas dari ancaman hama," kata Aunu dalam rilis yang diterima Kompas.com, Rabu hari ini.
"Tapi, kini ada hama. Kami harus mengambil tindakan cepat yang ramah lingkungan untuk melindungi
mata pencaharian petani singkong, dan menjaga keamanan pangan Indonesia," imbuh Aunu.
Efektivitas tawon untuk membasmi kutu putih telah terbukti. Tahun 1980-an, pelepasan tawon bisa
mendukung jutaan petani di sub Sahara Afrika dan menyelamatkan pertanian singkong yang telah
merugi hingga 20 miliar Dollar AS.
Secara ilmiah, begitu dilepaskan, tawon akan tumbuh dan berkembang biak. Tawon akan meletakkan
telurnya pada larva kutu putih. Begitu menetas, tawon akan memakan larva itu dari dalam. Proses ini
membantu menekan populasi larva.
18
Aunu menambahkan, "Tawon ini tak merugikan manusia, hewan atau serangga lain, dan hanya
memakan kutu putih. Metode kontrol biologis ini lebih baik daripada membasmi dengan pestisida yang
bisa mengakibatkan dampak lingkungan serius dan berbiaya besar."
Jan Willem Ketelaar dari FAO mengatakan bahwa ancaman kutu putih adalah bukti bahwa penyebaran
spesies invasif merugikan. Spesies invasif terbukti mengakibatkan kerugian miliaran dollar AS dalam
pertanian maupun manajemennya.
Rangaswamy Muniappan dari Integrated Pest Management Innovation Lab, Virginia Tech menyatakan,
petani dan peneliti perlu bekerjasama untuk merespon ancaman kutu putih serta ancaman lain di masa
depan.
http://sains.kompas.com/read/2014/09/24/17255001/Basmi.Hama.Singkong.IPB.Lepaskan.2.000.Tawon
19
Kompas Sians (Indonesia)
Lebah Penyelamat Singkong
Sabtu, 4 Oktober 2 0 1 4
Oleh Ichwan Susanto
Meski sering dikatakan sebagai makanan ”ndeso”, untuk masyarakat bawah, singkong cukup laris.
Bahkan, sebagian besar singkong produk Indonesia terserap pasar ekspor untuk diolah menjadi tepung
tapioka hingga bahan industri farmasi. Dalam sejarah pertanian singkong, tercatat ada satu musuh yang
kerap mengintai dan bisa menghancurkan produktivitasnya.
Ancaman itu berasal dari penyebaran hama kutu putih (Phenacoccus manihoti). Kutu yang biasanya
mengelompok seperti kapas ini menempel pada batang maupun punggung daun singkong. Bagian
tumbuhan yang dihinggapi dan menjadi tempat hidup koloni P manihoti akan rusak. Pada gilirannya
tanaman jadi kerdil dan tak produktif.
Serangan hama kutu
putih (Phenacoccus
manihot) bias menurunkan
produktivitas
singkong.
Ahli serangga dari
IPB, Prof Aunu
Rauf,
menunjukkan
serangan hama
kutu putih.
Sejumlah pihak mempersiapkan sekitar 3.000 lebah Anagyrus lopezi
untuk memerangi serangan hama kutu putih (Phenacoccus manihot)
yang bisa menurunkan produktivitas singkong.
Di Indonesia dilaporkan, serangan hama ini mulai muncul dan menyebar di sentra-sentra pertanian,
seperti Lampung, Jawa Barat, Jawa Tengah, dan Jawa Timur. Bahkan, kutu putih diduga telah menyebar
hingga ke Nusa Tenggara Timur. Kalau benar, serangan akan sangat mematikan karena hama kutu putih
menggemari kondisi lahan yang kering.
Kalau tak diantisipasi sejak dini, dampaknya akan sangat serius dan mematikan pertanian singkong
secara lokal maupun nasional. Untuk itu, pada 25 September 2014, Institut Pertanian Bogor (IPB) beserta
International Center for Tropical Agriculture/ Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical (CIAT) dari
20
Kolombia, dan Organisasi Pangan dan Pertanian (FAO) menginisiasi perang biologis atas kutu putih di
Indonesia.
Para peneliti melepaskan sekitar 3.000 lebah spesies Anagyrus lopezi untuk mengendalikan penyebaran
hama kutu putih di Desa Cikeas, Sukaraja, Bogor. Pelepasan kali ini masih dalam tahap uji lapangan.
Artinya, pelepasan dilakukan di lingkungan tertutup dan terkendali. Tujuannya untuk memastikan
pelepasan lebah yang berasal dari Amerika Selatan ini tak berdampak negatif pada lingkungan dan
manusia.
Jangan sampai, ”mesin pembunuh” kutu putih ini tersebar menjadi ”mesin pembunuh” berbagai serangga
lain yang dibutuhkan ekosistem. Setelah dipastikan keamanan bagi lingkungan, pelepasan secara besarbesaran akan dilanjutkan setelah mendapatkan izin dari Kementerian Pertanian.
Lebah A lopezi disebut mesin pembunuh karena kehadirannya menjadi parasit yang mematikan kutu
putih. Cara kerjanya, lebah ini memasukkan larvanya ke tubuh hama kutu putih. Pelan namun pasti larvalarva lebah akan menggerogoti tubuh kutu hingga mati.
Sangat merugikan
Kutu putih adalah hama paling berbahaya pada tanaman singkong. Hama itu dilaporkan mampu
menurunkan produksi singkong hingga 84 persen seperti pernah terjadi di Thailand. Diduga, hama ini
berasal dari Amerika Selatan, tempat asal tanaman singkong.
Serangan kutu putih di Asia dilaporkan pertama kali di Thailand pada tahun 2008. Sejak itu, hama
tersebut menyebar ke Myanmar, Kamboja, Laos, hingga Tiongkok. Baru-baru ini, kutu putih ditemukan di
tanaman singkong di Lampung dan sejumlah wilayah di Jawa.
Prof Aunu Rauf, pakar serangga pertanian dari IPB yang memimpin pelepasan 3.000 serangga ini,
mengatakan, pelepasan lebah untuk menumpas kutu putih ini penting. Cara biologis dinilai lebih ramah
lingkungan dan tak mematikan serangga lain dibandingkan penggunaan insektisida.
Langkah memerangi hama kutu putih di Indonesia sangat strategis dan bakal menguntungkan karena
Indonesia merupakan salah satu produsen singkong terbesar di dunia. Diperkirakan satu juta hektar
lahan singkong tersebar di berbagai pusat pertanian nasional.
Dorongan IPB, CIAT, dan FAO untuk mengantisipasi dan memerangi sejak dini hama kutu putih
dilakukan karena umumnya petani kecil yang menanam singkong. ”Kalau berhasil,
petani akan menjadi yang paling diuntungkan. Mereka bisa menikmati hasil panen yang maksimal tanpa
gangguan hama kutu putih yang mematikan,” kata Aunu Rauf.
Menjaga kestabilan produktivitas singkong juga menjadi pekerjaan rumah guna mendukung usaha
presiden terpilih Joko Widodo untuk mencapai kedaulatan pangan. ”Dengan adanya hama, kami harus
mengambil tindakan cepat yang ramah lingkungan untuk melindungi petani singkong dan menjaga
keamanan pangan Indonesia,” kata Aunu Rauf yang kerap menangani anomali ledakan serangga, seperti
ulat bulu dan tomcat.
Efektif
Efektivitas lebah untuk membasmi kutu putih telah terbukti. Tahun 1980-an, pelepasan lebah ini
mendukung jutaan petani di Sub-Sahara Afrika dan menyelamatkan pertanian singkong yang telah
merugi hingga 20 miliar dollar AS di wilayah itu.
Setelah dilepaskan di lapangan secara besar-besaran, hingga kini tak ditemukan dampak buruk di Afrika.
Penyebabnya, lebah A lopezi hanya menjadi parasit bagi hama kutu putih.
21
Serangan hama kutu putih juga terjadi di Thailand. Tahun 2008 dilaporkan pertama kali penyebaran kutu
putih di Thailand. Selanjutnya, kutu putih itu merambah hingga Subregion Mekong yang mencakup
Kamboja, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam, dan Provinsi Yunnan (Tiongkok). Saat itu, keberadaan kutu putih tak
segera ditangani sehingga dampaknya sangat merugikan pertanian singkong pada tahun 2009.
Kris Wyckhuys, ahli serangga CIAT Asia, menjelaskan, serangan hama kutu putih di Asia dan Afrika bisa
sangat meluas dan masif. Penyebabnya, hama kutu putih yang berasal dari Amerika Selatan tak memiliki
musuh alami di Asia dan Afrika.
”Tidak adanya musuh alami membuat kutu putih singkong tinggal secara nyaman di Afrika dan sekarang
Asia. Sudah waktunya membantu alam dengan mengirimkan parasit alami kutu putih,” katanya.
Aunu Rauf menaksir, serangan hama kutu putih di Indonesia membuat pertanian singkong merugi hampir
Rp 1 triliun. Di Bogor saja didapati serangan hama kutu putih enurunkan produktivitas hingga 30 persen.
Perhitungan kasar ini berasal dari perkiraan luas serangan kutu putih yang mencapai 146.000 hektar.
Dengan produktivitas rata-rata 20 ton per hektar, produktivitas
singkong nasional sejumlah 2.920.000 ton. Jika sebanyak 30 persen hasil panen hilang, total kehilangan
adalah 876.000 ton. Dengan harga Rp 1.000 per kilogram, total kerugian Rp 876 miliar. Untuk mengatasi
hal ini, selain dengan metode perang biologis dengan mengirim parasit alami di lahan-lahan pertanian,
para pakar internasional dan nasional kini berusaha untuk menemukan varietas singkong yang tangguh
serta sistem pengelolaan hama yang lebih baik. Hal itu antara lain dengan menerapkan
sistem karantina yang mumpuni agar membendung penyebaran hama dan penyakit pertanian di masa
depan.
22
Libération (France)
Des guêpes face aux cochenilles pour sauver le manioc
24 SEPTEMBRE 2014 À 19:46
HISTOIREUne «équipe de choc écologique». C’est ainsi que les scientifiques appellent les 2 000 guêpes
parasites relâchées mercredi en Indonésie. Le Centre international d’agriculture tropicale, basé en
Colombie, et l’Université agricole de Bogor, en Indonésie, se sont associés pour sauver les cultures de
manioc, menacées par les cochenilles. Capable d’engloutir 84 % d’un champ en très peu de temps, elle
suce la sève des plantes et les fait dessécher. En Indonésie, l’un des plus grands producteurs de manioc
au monde, la menace est prise au sérieux. Venus d’Amérique du Sud, les cochenilles ont déjà envahi le
continent africain. Et les guêpes Anagyrus lopezi ont déjà fait preuve de leur efficacité dans d’autres pays
de la région. Elles parasitent les cochenilles avec leurs oeufs et quand ceux-ci éclosent, ils tuent la
cochenille. «Si nous n’agissons pas maintenant, cela pourrait être un revers important pour l’industrie du
manioc du pays et des millions d’agriculteurs», plaide Aunu Rauf, de l’Université agricole de Bogor.
http://www.liberation.fr/monde/2014/09/24/des-guepes-face-aux-cochenilles-pour-sauver-lemanioc_1107811
23
RTÉ News (Ireland)
Wasp 'swat team' set to rescue Indonesian crop
The bugs threatening to devour cassava crops
An "eco-friendly SWAT team" of 2,000 tiny wasps will be released in Indonesia to battle bugs threatening
to devour cassava crops, a major staple and source of income for millions.
The two-millimetre A. Lopezi parasitic wasps work by laying larvae that consumes the mealybugs from
the inside and mummifies them. The wasps need to consume the pest to survive.
The cassava pink mealybug is native to South America, as is cassava, and is one of the world's most
destructive pests preying on the crop, according to the team of scientists behind the wasp release.
It likely travelled to Africa and Asia by hitchhiking on infected cassava as it was transported across
countries and continents.
Scientists behind the release, from the Colombia-based International Centre for Tropical Agriculture
(CIAT), Indonesia's Bogor Agricultural University and the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation, have
dubbed the wasps an "eco-friendly SWAT team" and stress they are harmless to humans and animals.
The mealybugs "have been living in the lap of luxury" in their new environments, where they face no
effective threats, according to Kris Wyckhuys, an entomologist from CIAT focusing on Asia.
"It's time to help nature along."
24
The wasps, which are native to Central America, will first be released in a confined field on the outskirts of
Jakarta, allowing them to reproduce naturally and to be monitored in local conditions before being
unleashed in an open field.
Indonesia is one of the world's biggest cassava producers and each year plants one million hectares of
the crop.
It is the second most-consumed staple after rice in the developing nation of 250 million people, which
struggles with malnutrition.
It is consumed as a vegetable but also processed into starch to make a variety of products from noodles
to pharmaceuticals.
The mealybugs are capable of reducing cassava yields by up to 84%, and were first reported as a major
problem in Asia in Thailand in 2008.
The pest has also been detected in other Asian countries, including Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.
Although the current area affected in Indonesia is still low, the scientists said the pest can spread fast if
not managed, as Thailand found. Wasps were successfully used in Thailand to tackle the problem.
"If we don't act now, this could be a major blow to the country's cassava industry and to the millions of
farmers who depend on this crop for their incomes," said Aunu Rauf, an entomologist with Bogor
Agricultural University.
A massive aerial wasp drop in the 1980s in sub-Saharan Africa was credited with saving the cassava
industry from €15.6 billion in potential damages.
http://www.rte.ie/news/2014/0924/645938-wasps-indonesian/
25
Sciences Et Avenir (France)
Des guêpes parasites au secours des cultures de manioc en Indonésie
Publié le 24-09-2014 à 15h17
Jakarta (AFP) - Environ 2.000 guêpes parasites ont été relâchées mercredi en Indonésie pour éliminer
les cochenilles, des insectes qui détruisent les cultures de manioc dont ce pays d'Asie du Sud-Est est l'un
des plus grands producteurs au monde.
Mesurant deux millimètres, les guêpes Anagyrus Lopezi ont déjà été utilisées dans d'autres pays de la
région, telle la Thaïlande, pour lutter contre ces insectes nuisibles venant d'Amérique du Sud et qui ont
déjà envahi le continent africain.
La cochenille suce la sève des plantes de manioc et les fait dessécher, provoquant d'importantes pertes
de récoltes de cette plante riche en amidon, qui pousse dans les régions tropicales.
Les petites guêpes reconnaissent cet insecte, pondent des oeufs, et lorsque les parasites émergent, les
cochenilles meurent.
Des scientifiques qui participent à cette première initiative en Indonésie -- le Centre international
d'agriculture tropicale, basé en Colombie, l'Université agricole de Bogor en Indonésie -- appellent ces
guêpes une "équipe de choc écologique" et insistent sur le fait qu'elles ne sont dangereuses ni pour les
humains ni pour les animaux.
Originaires d'Amérique du Sud, les guêpes parasites qui se trouvent dans des élevages ont été relâchées
mercredi après-midi, dans un premier temps dans un espace clos à la périphérie de Jakarta, où elles
pourront se reproduire naturellement et faire l'objet d'une surveillance. Par la suite, elle seront relâchées
dans un champ de manioc.
Les cochenilles, qui sont capables de réduire jusqu'à 84% de la récolte d'un champ de manioc, avaient
été détectées pour la première fois en Asie en 2008 en Thaïlande, et par la suite dans d'autres pays de la
région tels le Cambodge, le Laos et le Vietnam.
Peu nombreux jusqu'ici en Indonésie, ces insectes pourraient se répandre très rapidement dans les
cultures, comme ce fut le cas en Thaïlande, où le recours aux guêpes parasites s'est révélé efficace,
selon des scientifiques.
"Si nous n'agissons pas maintenant, cela pourrait être un revers important pour l'industrie du manioc du
pays et des millions d'agriculteurs dont les revenus dépendent de ces récoltes", a déclaré Aunu Rauf,
entomologiste à l'Université agricole de Bogor.
http://www.sciencesetavenir.fr/nature-environnement/20140924.AFP6760/des-guepes-parasites-ausecours-des-cultures-de-manioc-en-indonesie.html
26
TheinNhien.net (Vietnam)
Indonesia sử dụng tò vò chống dịch rệp hồng phá hoại sắn
Thứ Sáu, ngày 26/09/2014
ThienNhien.Net – Các nhà khoa học Indonesia cho biết, ngày 24/9, một “biệt đội thân thiện sinh thái” gồm
2.000 con tò vò tí hon đã được thả trên các cánh đồng để tiêu diệt loài rệp đang đe dọa cây sắn – một
loại cây trồng chủ lực và là nguồn thu nhập của hàng triệu người ở nước này.
Loài tò vò mang tên A.Lopezi có kích thước chỉ 2mm, tiêu diệt những con rệp hồng phá sắn bằng cách
đẻ trứng trên rệp và khi trứng phát triển thành ấu trùng sẽ ăn rệp từ bên trong.
Rệp hồng ở sắn có nguồn gốc từ Nam Mỹ, là một trong những dịch bệnh nguy hại nhất đối với cây lương
thực. Các nhà khoa học cho rằng dịch rệp hồng lây lan sang châu Phi và châu Á thông qua các sản
phẩm sắn có rệp được vận chuyển giữa các quốc gia và châu lục.
Dịch bệnh này có thể làm giảm tới 84% sản lượng thu hoạch sắn và lần đầu tiên được cảnh báo ở châu
Á tại Thái Lan vào năm
2008. Dịch cũng đã được
phát hiện ở các nước châu
Á khác như Campuchia,
Lào và Việt Nam.
Các nhà khoa học khẳng
định tò vò vô hại đối với
người và động vật. Nhà côn
trùng học Kris Wyckhuys
thuộc Trung tâm Quốc tế
Nông nghiệp Nhiệt đới
Colombia nhấn mạnh rằng
đã đến lúc phải sử dụng
những biện pháp sinh học
để bảo vệ mùa màng đồng
thời không gây hại cho môi
trường.
Vườn sắn ở Indonesia ( Ảnh: businessinsider.com)
Indonesia là một trong
những nước sản xuất sắn
lớn nhất thế giới với diện tích canh tác vài triệu hécta mỗi năm. Đây cũng là loại lương thực được tiêu thụ
nhiều thứ hai sau gạo ở quốc gia đang phát triển với 250 triệu dân này. Sắn cũng được sử dụng làm rau
và chế biến thành tinh bột để sản xuất mì hay làm dược phẩm.
Mặc dù diện tích trồng sắn bị rệp tại Indonesia hiện nay chưa nhiều, nhưng các nhà khoa học cảnh báo
dịch có thể lây lan nhanh chóng nếu không được kiểm soát. Biện pháp thả tò vò diệt rệp hồng phá sắn đã
từng được sử dụng thành công ở Thái Lan.
http://www.thiennhien.net/2014/09/26/indonesia-su-dung-to-vo-chong-dich-rep-hong-pha-hoai-san/
27
Tuoitre Online (Vietnam)
http://tuoitre.vn/tin/can-biet/20140929/indonesia-su-dung-to-vo-chong-dich-rep-hong-pha-hoaisan/651331.html
28
Wall Street Journal (USA)
When Wasps Attack, Indonesian Farmers Benefit
By Sara Schonhardt
Two thousand tiny wasps embarked on a sting operation Wednesday to attack pests that threaten
Indonesia’s cassava crops.
The release took place in a confined field outside Jakarta, marking the start to a broader eradication
campaign aimed at the cassava mealybug, a pest that spreads rapidly and is capable of reducing
cassava yields by more than 80%. Scientists say rooting it out early is necessary to ensure economic
prosperity for millions of farmers in Indonesia.
Cassava is the second major staple crop in the Southeast Asian country after rice and is used in many
local dishes, as well as pharmaceuticals. Invasive species are capable of causing billions of dollars of
crop losses, say scientists, making efforts to stop them before they cause widespread devastation all the
more important, particularly for emerging economies like Indonesia.
Dr. Aunu Rauf, a professor of agricultural entomology at Bogor Agricultural University, says the wasps are
natural enemies of the mealybugs and pose no threat to humans or the environment. Despite their innate
attack abilities, they don’t pack a sting. They’ve proven “very effective” in eradicating the pests in
Thailand and Africa, he said.
Here’s a look at the sting op in Bogor on Jakarta’s outskirts.
Researchers led by Prof. Aunu Rauf are mass rearing the parasitic wasp Anagyrus lopezi, which eats and
lays its eggs inside the pink mealybug.
29
This picture, taken at a field near the Bogor Agricultural University in Indonesia, shows a cassava plant
with symptoms of a mealybug attack, which includes plant stunting.
The tiny, two-millimeter wasps deposit their eggs into the mealybug.
http://blogs.wsj.com/searealtime/2014/09/25/a-sting-op-for-the-benefit-of-indonesias-farmers/
30
Wall Street Journal (Indonesia)
Pasukan Tawon, Pahlawan Petani Singkong
25. September 2014, 16:11:51 SGT
Oleh Sara Schonhardt
Dua ribu ekor laskar tawon mulai terjun ke medan tempur pada Rabu, dengan misi menyelamatkan
tanaman singkong Indonesia dari serbuan hama.
Pengerahan pasukan tawon itu, yang berlangsung di sebuah ladang di luar kota Jakarta, merupakan
bagian dari kampanye pemberantasan kutu putih singkong. Hama tersebut mampu menyebar dengan
cepat dan bisa memangkas perolehan kebun singkong sebesar 80% lebih. Menurut para ilmuwan, wabah
kutu singkong mesti diberantas sejak awal, untuk memastikan kemakmuran jutaan petani di Nusantara.
Singkong adalah tanaman pokok nomor dua terbesar di Asia Tenggara setelah padi. Selain lazim
dimanfaatkan sebagai bahan pangan, tanaman ini juga berperan di bidang farmasi. Kerugian akibat
hama singkong di kawasan ini bisa menyentuh hitungan triliunan rupiah, kata para ilmuwan. Dengan
demikian—terutama di negara yang ekonominya sedang berkembang seperti Indonesia—hama harus
ditumpas sebelum mengakibatkan kehancuran yang luas.
Dr. Aunu Rauf, guru besar entomologi pertanian di Institut Pertanian Bogor (IPB), mengungkap tawon
adalah musuh alami kutu singkong. Bagusnya, tawon-tawon itu bukan merupakan ancaman terhadap
manusia ataupun lingkungan. Bagi kita, sengatan tawon ini tak berbahaya. Namun, serangan tawon
terhadap kutu terbukti “sangat efektif” dalam membasmi hama tersebut di Thailand dan Afrika, kata Rauf.
Prof. Aunu Rauf dan timnya membiakkan tawon Anagyrus lopezi. Tawon ini bersifat parasit, yakni
memangsa kutu dan meletakkan telurnya di dalam tubuh kutu hama singkong.
Foto ini, yang diambil di sebuah ladang di dekat IPB, menunjukkan tanaman singkong dengan gejala
hama kutu.
Tawon mungil berukuran dua milimeter ini tengah bertelur di tubuh kutu singkong.
http://indo.wsj.com/posts/2014/09/25/pasukan-tawon-pahlawan-petani-singkong/
31
Broadcast
Al Jazeera
Tiny wasps deployed to kill crop-eating pests
30 Sep 2014 11:25
Dana MacLean
Indonesia's cassava plantations are being killed by mealybugs, and thousands of wasps have been
released to stop them.
Scientists will release 3,000 parasitoid wasps in a cassava plantation in the Indonesian city of Bogor,
hoping they will prey on the pink mealybug pest that has devastated the crop, the second-mostconsumed starch in Indonesia.
The mealybug, a sap-sucking insect originally from South America, thrives in tropical climates and
reproduces year-round. Each female lays about 500 eggs at a time, resulting in up to 15 new generations
of the bugs annually.
"If not brought under control [in Indonesia], this invasive pest has the potential to considerably reduce
cassava yield as it previously did in Thailand and elsewhere in the Asia region," said Johannes Willem
Ketelaar, the integrated pest management specialist for vegetables with the Food and Agricultural
Organization (FAO) in the Asia-Pacific region.
Parasitoid wasps lay eggs inside the mealybug - and
when the eggs hatch as larvae, the mealybug implodes.
The strategy has been successfully used before to
address a mealybug infestation in Thailand in 2010, as
well as in Africa's cassava belt, where the pest
population was reduced to less than 10 percent of its
peak, according to the Consultative Group on
International Agricultural Research Centres (CGIAR).
A photo of the parasitoid wasp released
by the International Center for Tropical
Agriculture [AP]
But repeated introductions of new crops and species to
foreign ecosystems were what created the mealybug
problem in the first place. Neither the insect nor cassava
are indigenous to the Greater Mekong subregion, which includes
Thailand, Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam, and China's
southern Yunnan province..
"There is always a risk of unintended consequences when introducing a new species into an ecosystem,"
said Laura Kahn, a physician and co-founder of the One Health Initiative, a scientific research
movement investigating interaction among humans, animals and ecosystems.
Nevertheless, using the parasitoid wasps as a form of biocontrol is more environmentally sound than
pesticides, scientists say, and has a proven track record.
32
TAKING OVER, 'ALIEN-STYLE'
Indonesian cassava farmers first sighted the mealybug in 2010. The pests infected entire plantations in
Lampung and Java by 2014, according to Aunu Rauf, an entomologist at Bogor Agricultural University.
"The farmers did not know how to contain it. They tried to cut the tips off the leaves, but it wouldn't stop
spreading," said Rauf.
Scientists at the International Centre for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) and FAO, in partnership with the
Bogor Agricultural University, decided to introduce the wasps.
With heads the size of pins, the two-millimetre-long wasps use the mealybug's body as a host by
implanting their eggs inside and growing into larvae, eventually taking over the plant-sucking pests,
"alien-style", according to Kris Wyckhuys, a cassava entomologist at CIAT based in Hanoi.
"Following parasitism, mealybugs slowly perish and completely die within about two weeks, while the
parasitoid wasp develops and feeds inside the mealybug's body," Wyckhuys explained.
It will take two years to bring down the mealybug population using the wasps, which scientists hope will
adapt to local conditions and reproduce to initiate a long-term, full-fledged assault on mealybugs, which
otherwise could become more resilient because of temperature increases associated with climate
change.
Better than pesticides
The use of parasitoids, or parasite-like organisms that develop inside other life forms and later kill them, is
more effective, safe and sustainable than pesticides, especially in Southeast Asia where farmers often do
not use protective equipment, according to the FAO.
"Use of pesticides are often ineffective, contaminate the environment, can result in secondary pest
outbreaks and can be hazardous for the applicator's health," said Ketelaar.
In addition, the waxy substance covering the mealybug's body acts as an armour against insecticide,
while the toxic poison is likely to kill other beneficial insects including the wasps, according to Rauf.
According to the FAO, for the wasp deployment to be successful, "farmers must stop use of pesticides",
stressed Ketelaar.
The study conducted before the wasp release did not find any potential negative side effects on
Indonesian flora and fauna, noted CIAT's Wyckhuys, who added the wasps have never been known to
host in other species besides mealybugs.
But given that 75 percent of all emerging infectious diseases originate in the animal world - often when
exotic species are introduced to a new place - risks cannot be completely ruled out, said Kahn.
For example, Kahn said, "white nose syndrome, the fungal disease that is decimating the little brown
bat population in the US, was probably introduced by [a European species]. Hopefully nothing bad will
happen with the wasps, but you never know."
Entomologists, however, say the greater risk is that the initiative will not work, because of the use of
pesticides or unforeseen wasp predators.
"The huge task of tackling the mealybug problem is just starting, and lots of work remains to be done,"
concluded Wyckhuys.
Audio clip available
33
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2014/09/tiny-wasps-deployed-kill-crop-eating-pests2014928103046731639.html
34
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Tiny wasps introduced to Indonesia to save cassava crops
Saturday, September 27, 2014 08:25:00
By George Roberts
ELIZABETH JACKSON: They're so small you can barely see them and you can't hear them buzz.
But tiny wasps being introduced to Indonesia pack a punch that could save one of the country's most
important food sources.
Here's our Indonesia correspondent George Roberts.
(Sound of a person walking through crop).
GEORGE ROBERTS: Picking his way through Cassava plantation in the hills of Bogor, Wayhu Hidayat
shows the damage caused to his crop.
(Wahyu Hidayat speaking)
WAHYU HIDAYAT (voiceover): This is the normal branch, while this one is starting to be affected. Look,
it's starting to get go white, white.
GEORGE ROBERTS: He says the mealy bug infestation has halved his production and income.
WAHYU HIDAYAT (voiceover): The symptoms of the white bugs have been seen since 2010. Because of
that, the harvest has declined drastically, from 1,000 plants, we usually can get five tonnes of cassava,
but because of the white bugs, we only get 2.5 tonnes.
GEORGE ROBERTS: Dr Kris Wyckhuys is a cassava entomologist, an expert on insects that attack
cassava plants. He explains what it does to them.
KRIS WYCKHUYS: Well ultimately at very high infestation levels, all the leaves will drop and the plant,
yeah, the plant loses all its capacity to do photosynthesis. And basically...yeah.
GEORGE ROBERTS: But cassava is a vitally important crop to Indonesia's 250 million residents. It's their
second biggest food source after rice.
KRIS WYCKHUYS: Yeah, so there's about 1.1, 1.2 million hectares of cassava being grown in Indonesia
and about 58 to 60 per cent of locally grown cassava is being used as a food for the country. So it is
important as a food security crop as well as a cash crop for rural populations, for... yeah, sustaining local
livelihoods, basically.
GEORGE ROBERTS: So a tiny wasp from South America that's almost impossible to see, has been
enlisted to help out. Thousands of the tiny assassins are being bred at the Bogor Agricultural Institute.
Now 3,000 have been released in a restricted field trial.
MAN: And then ah close the cage... and then big applause.
(Sound of people clapping).
35
MAN: Ok, thank you very much.
GEORGE ROBERTS: Dr Aunu Rauf is a professor at the Institute.
So how does this wasp attack the mealy bug?
AUNU RAUF: The wasps actually lay eggs inside the body of the mealy bug and when the eggs hatch,
then the larva will eat the mealy bug from inside, and later will kill the mealy bug.
GEORGE ROBERTS: How sure are you that this can solve the problem of the mealy bug in Indonesia?
AUNU RAUF: I think from the (inaudible) experience from Thailand, the release of the parasite can
reduce the infestation down to 20 per cent, 10 per cent, something like that, yeah.
GEORGE ROBERTS: So how can you be sure that the wasp won't end up like the cane toad or other
introduced species that become pests themselves?
AUNU RAUF: Ok, this parasitoid, actually the wasp actually is very... is a specialist. Only attack the
cassava mealy bugs, so they cannot attack other insect or animal.
GEORGE ROBERTS: He says in three weeks they should have enough proof to justify mass wasp
releases across the country.
This is George Roberts in Bogor, West Java, reporting for Saturday AM.
Audio clip available
http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2014/s4095862.htm
36
BBC News Day
Interview with Kris Wyckhus on the wasp release
Audio Clip Available
37
Bloomberg TV (USA)
Wasp Warfare: Indonesia's Fight Against Mealybugs
Sept. 26 2014
Bloomberg's Rosalind Chin explains Indonesia's unique approach to combating the mealybugs attacking
the country's cassava crops. She speaks with Angie Lau on "First Up”.
Video clip available
http://www.bloomberg.com/video/wasp-warfare-indonesia-s-fight-against-mealybugsAK2x~1cSRXGpc86qF5K7XA.html
38
Deutsche Welle (Germany) —
Indonesian
Tawon Kecil Jaga Panen Indonesia
Ukurannya hanya sebesar kepala jarum pentul dan tidak menyengat. Tapi tawon-tawon kecil ini adalah
pembunuh berdarah dingin. Ibaratnya tim SWAT, mereka bekerja sebagai penetralisasi hama tanaman
singkong.
Tawon-tawon kecil ini disebar di Indonesia, di mana hama kutu Phenacoccus Manihoti masih
mengancam. Kutu berbulu dan berwarna putih ini tubuhnya berbentuk seperti pil obat. Dalam 60 tahun
terakhir, hama ini meraja lela di seluruh Asia Tenggara. Tetapi berbeda dengan misalnya Thailand, di
mana singkong jadi komoditi ekspor besar, di Indonesia tanaman ini jadi bahan pangan kedua terpenting
setelah beras. Ini menyebabkan kutu Phenacoccus Manihoti jadi ancaman bagi penyediaan pangan.
Tawon-tawon kecil Anagyrus Lopezi membutuhkan kutu tersebut dalam keadaan hidup. Tawon betina
menempatkan telur di dalam tubuh kutu, dan selama larva tumbuh membesar, larva memakan kutu
secara perlahan dari dalam tubuhnya, sampai tinggal kerangka luarnya saja.
Rabu (24/09) para peneliti menempatkan 2.000 ekor tawon di dalam sangkar di dekat sebuah area
kebun singkong di Bogor. Mereka akan memonitor terlebih dahulu, apakah tawon mampu menyesuaikan
diri dengan kondisi daerah itu, selama mereka berkembang biak hingga mencapai sekitar 300.000 ekor
bulan depan. Setelah itu mereka akan dilepas untuk memulai tugas mereka membasmi hama.
KERUGIAN AKIBAT HAMA
Tidak jelas sejauh mana kutu Phenacoccus Manihoti sudah merugikan panen singkong Indonesia, tapi
serangan hama sudah dilaporkan dari Jawa dan Sumatra, kata Kris Wyckhuys, seorang pakar
entomologi di Pusat Penelitian Pertanian Tropis Internasional di Kolombia, yang ikutserta dalam
koordinasi penyebaran tawon. Menurutnya, idenya adalah melepaskan tawon untuk sepenuhnya
membasmi hama. Karena jika dibiarkan, hama bisa mematikan lebih dari 80% panen, dengan menghisap
getah sampai tanaman kering dan mati.
Indonesia adalah salah satu penghasil singkong terbesar dunia. Singkong jadi sumber karbohidrat yang
baik bagi tubuh, juga mengandung nutrisi dalam jumlah besar. Singkong jadi makanan penting di
sejumlah negara berkembang. Di Indonesia singkong digoreng atau direbus, dan jadi bahan keripik juga
kue. Di negara lain, singkong juga dijadikan makanan ternak. Selain itu singkong jadi bahan produk
lainnya, mulai dari lipstik dan pemanis buatan, sampai cat.
Pedagang Portugal membawa tanaman singkong dari Amerika Selatan untuk pertama kalinya beberapa
abad lalu. Dan banyak masyarakat termiskin dunia tergantung pada hasil tanaman ini untuk selamat.
Singkong bisa tumbuh di lahan yang kualitas tanahnya tidak bagus. Selain itu singkong tidak butuh
banyak air. Sifat menguntungkan itu membuat singkong ideal untuk ditanam di daerah bersuhu tinggi
yang terkena kekeringan.
39
Penyebaran dengan pesawat terbang
Singkong sangat penting di Afrika, yang
mengalami serangan hama besar-besaran
Phenacoccus Manihoti di tahun 1980-an.
Tawon-tawon diimpor pertama kali ke sana
dari Paraguay, dan disebar di seluruh benua
dengan pesawat terbang. Metode ini efektif,
dan hampir 95% hama bisa dibinasakan di
sejumlah areal. Oleh sebab itu kelaparan bisa
dicegah dan dana 20 milyar Dolar bisa
dihemat.
Menurut Wyckhuys, tawon-tawon tidak
menyebabkan efek sampingan terhadap
ekosistem,
karena
kutu Phenacoccus Manihoti hanya makan
Penempatan tawon Anagyrus Lopezi di Bogor (24/09)
singkong, dan tawon hanya makan kutu Phenacoccus
Manihoti. Tetapi Wyckhuys mengatakan, pembasmian kutu sepenuhnya tidak mungkin dilakukan, karena
tawon harus terus memiliki sumber makanan. Jika tidak tawon juga akan mati.
http://www.dw.de/tawon-kecil-jaga-panen-indonesia/a-17950333
40
Trades
Edge Review
Making a meal of Indonesia’s cassava – The Edge Review
By Simon Roughneen
September 26 2014
Wasps touted as antidote to mealybug infestation
BOJONG KEMANG – Saiful Santoso, 47, has been growing cassava for 17 years on his half-hectare
farm a half hour drive from Bogor in west Java.
But for the past 4 years Saiful’s crop has been eaten into by phenacoccus manihoti – the cassava pink
mealybug – costing him between 20 to 40 per cent of his cassava each year since then.
2014 might not be as bad as other years, Saiful told The Edge Review. “It’s been raining, and the
mealybug likes dry weather.”
But the weather won’t be a permanent defence against the insatiable white bugs – and is no help three
hundreds miles away in eastern Java, dryer than on the western stretches of the island.
“In places where there is low soil fertility and where the climate is dry, which the bugs like, then the
damage can be up to 84 per cent of the crop,” says Dr Kris Wyckhuys, an entomologist with the
International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT).
Here in west Java – as in Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam – cassava is a cash crop, sold to the
starch industry or for biofuels. Cassava is the third most important carb source in the tropics, after rice
and maize, and is grown by around 500 million farmers worldwide, according to the United Nations’ Food
and Agriculture Organisation.
Four years since the mealybug was first detected in Indonesia, where one million hectares of land is
covered in the 2-4 meter tall cassava plants, the spread has prompted concerns over what wonks call
“food security.” In east Java, cassava is food – boiled, fried, made into snacks. “58 per cent of Indonesian
cassava is for food,” Wyckhaus told The Edge Review.
Mealybugs are vegetarian vampires – sucking the life out of plants. But in a horror movie insect judo, the
two-millimeter A. Lopezi wasps lay eggs in the bugs, before larvae eat the host from the inside out –
leaving nothing but the shell.
Scientists pitch the wasps as a no-spray cassava saviour to the Indonesian government. The idea, if the
government allows, would be to release hundreds of thousands of wasps into the cassava plantations,
and hope for a mealybug genocide.
A trial release of 2,000 wasps last week could be the first phase of a wider assault on the mealybugs.
41
Naturally-occuring predators – such as the lacewing – do not just target mealybugs, unlike the wasp,
which hunts nothing else but the bugs. “We have the local natural enemies, but they often don’t work until
the infesting population is high. That is already too late,” says Aunu Rauf of Bogor Agricultural University.
“You dont have to worry it will attack any other animal or plant,” Aunu tells The Edge Review.
Wyckhuys says that the wasp proved effective in Africa during the 1980’s, and more recently in Thailand
– where the cassava crop was similarly-menaced by mealybugs that likely stole across the Indian Ocean
from Africa, in ships carrying cassava plant cuttings.
“The success rate was high to very high, giving a yield loss reduction of 90 per cent,” Wyckhuys says.
http://www.simonroughneen.com/asia/seasia/indonesia/making-a-meal-of-indonesias-cassava-the-edgereview/
42
Inside Science (USA)
Parasitic Wasps Unleashed On Insect Pest
Sep 24 2014 - 9:30am
By Ker Than
(Inside Science) -- Scientists today released 2,000 South American parasitic wasps in Indonesia as part
of a project aimed at thwarting an invasive insect pest that is devastating the country’s cassava food crop.
The wasps were released into a small, confined field, enabling scientists to assess their performance
under local environmental conditions.
“Today’s release constitutes the
start of what could event ually
become a nationwide release
campaign,” said Kris Wyckhuys,
an entomologist at the
International Center for Tropical
Agriculture, a Colombia-based
nonprofit that is helping organize
the release. The technique has
been used, with success, to
protect cassava in other
countries.
Prof. Aunu Rauf holds up a branch of a cassava plant that
mealybugs have attacked. Georgina Smith/CIAT
“Once the wasps have
completed a couple of
generations in the field cages and perform well,
the cages could be opened and a full field
release can be initiated,” Wyckhuys said.
The use of the parasitic wasps to control cassava mealybugs is a textbook case of classical biological
control, in which the natural enemies of a pest are imported from its native country to slow its spread.
Edwin Rajotte, an entomologist at Pennsylvania State University in University Park, said that while there
are famous situations where classical biological control has not gone according to plan – the introduction
of cane toads in Australia is one – the technique’s benefits outweigh its risks.
“A natural enemy has evolved with the pest in its home range, so it is adapted to efficiently seek and
parasitize the pest. And they are usually able to move with the pest population as it invades new areas,”
said Rajotte, who is not involved in the Indonesia project. “Pests are also not likely to develop resistance
to a natural enemy.”
Cassava, also called manioc and yuca, is a bush-like plant that is originally from South America. Its tubers
and leaves are now a major food source in many parts of the world, especially Africa and Southeast Asia.
Indonesia is a major cassava producer, and plants roughly one million hectares of the crop every year. In
recent years, however, a pill-shaped insect known as the cassava pink mealybug has been ravaging the
country’s crops. Also from South America, the mealybug is one of the most destructive cassava pests in
43
the world, capable of reducing cassava yields by up to 84 percent. It kills cassava plants by sucking on
their sap, depriving them of vital nutrients and water.
Chemical insecticides have proven ineffective against the mealybug because its body is covered in a
protective wax coating. So to slow the mealybug’s spread in Asia, scientists have recruited a natural
enemy from its homeland, the tiny Anagyrus lopezi wasp.
"Cassava is originally from South America, so it makes sense that the crop’s pests come from there too,”
Wyckhuys said.
About two millimeters long, the parasitic wasp lays its eggs inside the mealybug’s body. When the larvae
hatch, they eat their way out of the mealybugs, slowly mummifying and killing them. Scientists estimate
that a single female wasp can kill up to 200 mealybugs during the two to three weeks that it lives.
The A. lopezi wasp was first exported to fight mealybug infestations in sub-Saharan Africa in the 1980s,
with spectacular results. Scientists estimate the wasps saved about U.S. $20 billion in damages to the
cassava industry there.
Since then, however, the mealybug has spread to many parts of Southeast Asia, probably by hitchhiking
on infected cassava as it was transported across countries and continents.
“Farmers, traders and middlemen often source planting material from one cassava-growing area to
another, and more often than not, they do so without given proper care and attention to mealybuginfestation,” Wyckhuys said.
The Indonesia experiment will mark the second time the wasp has been purposely recruited to fight the
mealybugs in Southeast Asia. In 2010, more than a quarter-million wasps were released in Thailand,
where they have done a “relatively good job” fighting the mealybug infestation there, Wychkuys said. He
noted that occasional outbreaks are reported in large cassava plantations.
Rangaswamy Muniappan, director of the Integrated Pest Management Innovation Lab at Virginia Tech in
Blacksburg, which is a key partner in the Indonesia release operation, stressed that before being
released, the wasps were kept in quarantine to ensure that they fed only on cassava mealybugs and
posed no threat to humans, animals or other insects.
“That has been proven, and the Indonesian government has given permission for this field release,”
Muniappan said.
Scientists say that once a full deployment is begun, it should take about a year and a half for the wasps to
reduce the mealybug population down to about 15 percent of its current level.
“At that point, they will no longer be of concern,” Muniappan said, “because they won’t be causing much
economic damage.”
http://www.insidescience.org/content/parasitic-wasps-unleashed-insect-pest/2076
Science 2.0
http://www.science20.com/inside_science/indonesia_cassava_might_be_saved_by_parasitic_wasp145728
44

Parastic Wasp Release Promotion Indonesia

Transcription

Similar documents

Trakindo Internal Magazine Antarkita – Within Us

Cassava Hornworm Outbreak

Information of ＩＭＤＩＡ Auditor Change

EID MUBARAK!

FN_NST_31Mar2014

consulate general of republic of indonesia

Telco Industry in Indonesia Trend and Estimation

20160105 Profil Anggota AC ENG Periode 2015

The TELKOM Assessment Center - International Congress on