icipe Science Days

On 9 and 10 November 2015 icipe held two science days, intended as a chance for diverse stakeholders to engage with the Centre’s world-class scientific breakthroughs and extensive contributions to food security, health improvement and poverty reduction in Africa.

The events were attended by over 200 dignitaries, including Ambassadors and High Commissioners, government ministers and other officials, members of the Centre’s Governing Council, investors, partners and journalists. Welcoming the guests, icipe Director General, Dr Segenet Kelemu, noted: “Since its founding 45 years ago, icipe has maintained a very specific focus on the substantial challenges, and also considerable opportunities, that insects and related arthropods pose for Africa and the tropics.

The Centre’s goal is to develop technologies and strategies to control insect pests and disease vectors, and to conserve and sustainably use Africa’s rich arthropod biodiversity. The distinction of icipe’s outputs is that they are environmentally safe, affordable, acceptable and accessible to communities, especially smallholder farmers and associated value chain participants, with significant attention to women and youth.” “icipe’s programmes are delivered through four research themes, defined by their intended outcomes: Human Health, Animal Health, Plant Health and Environmental Health.

The Centre’s solid foundation in insect science is underpinned by the science disciplines of chemical ecology, molecular biology and biotechnology, insect pathology, taxonomy and systematics, ecology, biostatistics and bioinformatics, geo information system and social sciences. These skills are applied across the four research themes,” Dr Kelemu added.

The icipe science days were marked through a mix of scientific presentations and exhibitions. The presentations were organised around the following topics:

• Improving cereal-livestock production and environmental sustainability in Africa, focusing on push-pull, a platform technology developed over the past 20 years by icipe in collaboration with Rothamsted Research, United Kingdom, and partners in eastern Africa. This simple cropping strategy, which is now being used by 110,000 farmers across Africa, simultaneously addresses the five key constraints of cereal–livestock mixed production systems in sub Saharan Africa (SSA) – insect pests (stemborers), the parasitic weed Striga (and other weeds), poor soil fertility, soil moisture management, while also fulfilling the need for high quality animal feed. Over the past four years, icipe and its partners have developed a climate-smart version of push-pull to extend its application to drier areas of the continent, and in relation to the increasingly dry and hot conditions associated with climate change.
• Supporting domestic and export mango industries through the management of fruit flies, highlighting icipe’s integrated pest management (IPM) packages, which are aimed at reducing yield losses and the huge expenditure incurred by farmers to purchase pesticides, in trying to deal with the plethora of these devastating pests. These packages, which are being used by over 20,000 farmers across Africa, are also intended to mitigate the health and environmental risks associated with the use (and misuse) of such chemicals. Overall, icipe’s goal is to increase the competitiveness of fruit from SSA in local and international markets, and to elevate the income and livelihoods of people involved in the value chain, especially women and the youth.
• Insects for sustainable communities; honey value chains, detailing icipe’s beneficial and commercial insects programme, which focuses on reducing pressure on biodiversity ecosystems and their resources, by enabling communities living adjacent to such areas to engage in income earning activities that are sustainable, eco-friendly and synergistic, provide quick economic rewards and improve food security in Africa. Currently, over 30,000 farmers in Africa, the Near East and North Africa, are involved in the icipe beneficial and commercial insects activities. • Developing the next generation of African Scientists, based on icipe’s longstanding commitment towards creating a critical mass of young African researchers in arthropod related sciences at MSc, PhD and postdoctoral levels, primarily through the African Regional Postgraduate Programme in Insect Science (ARPPIS), the Dissertation Research Internship Programme (DRIP) and the Postdoctoral Fellowship programme. So far, 297 PhD, and 311 Msc have been trained through ARPPIS and DRIP.
• Malaria; New tools to combat an old threat, malaria management technologies, discussing icipe’s contribution towards effective and sustainable control of malaria, based on thorough knowledge of mosquito ecology, mosquito behaviour and malaria transmission, with the aim of developing integrated vector management (IVM) tools that go beyond bednets and traditional insecticide-based approaches.
• Tsetse repellents for enhancing livestock productivity and improving livelihoods. The icipe tsetse repellent collars contain a blend of chemicals identified from water buck, an animal that is present in tsetse fly infested areas, but which is not fed on by the flies. Worn around the neck of cattle, the repellent collars provide substantial protection to cattle. In pilot sites, the technology has been shown to be effective in reducing the tsetse-transmitted animal trypanosomiasis (nagana), with significant socio-economic benefits to farmers. The technology is now being scale-up, through collaboration between icipe and private sector partners.
• Real IPM and icipe; A collaboration for impact, focusing on the commercialisation of three biopesticides: Campaign® (ICIPE 69), Achieve™ (ICIPE 78) and Met 62® (ICIPE 62), which have been developed by icipe based on isolates of the soil-inhabiting fungus, Metarhizium anisopliae.

The icipe science days demonstrations enabled guests to view the Centre’s research outputs upclose, and to interact with researchers and partners. They included exhibition booths illustrating the items discussed above (push-pull, fruit fly IPM technologies, tsetse repellent technology, Real IPM technologies, bee varieties, products and pollination, and the silk value chain). Outputs from the following programmes and projects were also on display:

• Climate Change Impacts on Ecosystem Services and Food Security in Eastern Africa (CHIESA), which aims to build climate change adaptation capacity, and to disseminate relevant strategies, among research communities, extension officers and decision makers and local communities. CHIESA’s main focus is to increase knowledge on the impacts of climate change on ecosystem services in the Eastern Afromontane Biodiversity Hotspot, specifically: Taita Hills (Kenya); Mount Kilimanjaro (Tanzania) and Jimma Highlands (Ethiopia).
• Insects for Food and Feed, a new strategic research area for icipe, which is a response to global uncertainties and pressures on current food and economic systems issues surrounding population growth, urbanization, climate change, diminishing land and water resources, over- and under nutrition, and persitent poverty. Against this background, the use of insects as alternative sources of food for human consumption and feed for livestock, has captured the imagination of the global research and donor community, as well as the general public.
• Solarmal technology, whose objective is to reduce malaria burden on Rusinga Island, western Kenya, through mass trapping of outdoor mosquitoes using a proof of principle concept that utilises Solar Powered Mosquito Traps (SMOTs) baited with a synthetic odour blend that mimic human odour to lure host-seeking malaria mosquitoes. Since SMOTs are also a source of clean lighting energy, they pre-empt the use of kerosene-powered lamps, thereby providing additional health benefits to users. To date, about 4200 households on Rusinga Islands have received SMOTs. • Sustainable Peri-Urban Milk Value Chain Development in Somaliland, which is conducting research and development, capacity building and strengthening governance and rehabilitation of the milk market, to increase income generation and employment of dairy farmers and pastoralists, especially women and youth, and to reduce food insecurity in Somaliland.
• Bioprospecting Programme, which undertakes research and development towards: discovery, development and commercialization of products from biodiversity for pest, vector and disease management; promotion of sustainable production, commercialization and use of nature-based products through private-public-community partnerships; capacity building of natural resource-dependent rural communities to sustainably produce pesticidal and medicinal plants and products for pest, vector and disease management.
• Biosystematics research, demonstrating the intricate interlinkage between taxonomy and icipe’s mandate of conserving biodiversity, as well as the Centre’s contribution to the global taxonomy knowledge hub. On display were some of the many interesting new species discovered by icipe and partners over the years, primarily Hymenoptera and Diptera.
• Geomodelling Unit, which uses remote sensing and geographical information system to provide geo-spatial analysis and mapping support to icipe's research themes.
• Nematodes research, which is part of icipe’s efforts to combine its remarkable above ground research capacity with soil level and below the ground studies.

Eight institutions hosted by icipe also exhibited their research outputs. They include:

• Environmental Liaison Centre International (ELCI)
• International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA)
• International Centre for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT)
• Biovision Foundation, Switzerland
• Partnership for Economic Policy (PEP)
• AVRDC – The World Vegetable Centre
• Association of International Research and Development Centres in Agriculture (AIRCA)
• International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC)

Photos: https://www.flickr.com/photos/icipeinsects/albums/72157658955452413