Animal Rearing and Quarantine

The role of the Animal Rearing and Containment Unit (ARCU) is to provide cost-effective and quality services from its insectaries, animal breeding and bio-containment facility to enhance research and capacity building activities at icipe. These services are extended to icipe stakeholders, collaborators and academic institutions including the national agricultural research systems, schools and local universities.

Performance of laboratory-reared insects is monitored regularly by ARCU staff to ensure that only insects of acceptable quality are distributed for research. Newly introduced parasitoids and predators for use in studies as biological control agents are contained in the bio-containment facility.

A number of students from tertiary institutions are sometimes attached to ARCU on short-term training, and are usually assigned a specific project aimed at improving rearing techniques in relation to quality assessment and control.

For further information, contact:

Milcah Gitau (mgitau@icipe.org)