Posts Tagged ‘Trichoderma’
Africa: Fabulous fungus finds a following
Posted in Biopesticide, IPM, tagged Trichoderma on July 29, 2015| Leave a Comment »
IPM Innovation Lab: Promoting Trichoderma as a biocontrol agent in Nepal
Posted in Biological control, Crop protection, tagged Nepal, Trichoderma on January 30, 2015| Leave a Comment »
Working with the Private Sector in Nepal to Promote a Friendly Fungus
January 29, 2015
Feed the Future | Newsletter
An Agricare employee (left) aids a farmer (right) in mixing Trichoderma fungus into her soil.
Rabin Adhikari has big ideas for Nepal. “I see a Nepal with thriving local businesses that help smallholder farmers produce better crops organically,” he says.
Adhikari is the CEO of Agricare Nepal, a private firm that makes biopesticides and biomedicine products used in agricultural and veterinary practice. When the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Integrated Pest Management, led by the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech), wanted to promote the use of the beneficial fungus Trichoderma as a biocontrol agent in Nepal, Adhikari jumped at the chance to get involved and offered space at his office in Nepal’s south central town of Bharatpur to host international researchers and practitioners who are collaborating on this topic.
In June 2014, 48 scientists, professors and extension agents from six different countries – Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Honduras and Indonesia – gathered at the Agricare facility to learn about how Trichoderma can be produced and deployed as an important component of integrated pest management.
Dr. Muni Muniappan, who directs the Integrated Pest Management Innovation Lab at Virginia Tech, says, “The goal was for participants to gain practical knowledge of the uses of Trichoderma as a biocontrol agent, particularly with regard to sustainable agriculture and environmental protection.”
In developing countries, chemical pesticides are often used indiscriminately, causing environmental damage and creating health concerns. Integrated pest management aims to mitigate this problem through an environmentally sensitive approach to pest control that can help farmers protect crops while limiting the use of synthetic pesticides. A naturally occurring fungus like Trichoderma, which kills off pathogens that attack the roots of plants, can increase agricultural production without jeopardizing the environment or human health.
Private firms like Agricare are essential to getting integrated pest management solutions into the market and making them widely available to smallholder farmers. The Innovation Lab has also worked with Agricare to increase the number and quality of its bioproducts. “We want to help privatize technology so that these beneficial practices will be self-sustaining when we leave,” Muniappan says.
Adhikari concurs. “I have learned so much from the collaboration,” he says. “The chance to network with other professionals in the field from around the world was invaluable. I hope we can continue to work together.”
Video: Researchers instruct scientists in giant role tiny fungi play
Posted in Biological control, Crop protection, Fungi, News, tagged IPM Innovation Lab, Nepal, R. Muniappan, Trichoderma, USAID, video on August 19, 2014| Leave a Comment »
08.19.2014:
At a Virginia Tech-led conference in Nepal, agriculture experts learn that employing Trichoderma can save millions of people from disease, save billions of dollars in crop loss, and safeguard the environment by reducing toxic pesticide use.
See video at:
http://www.vtnews.vt.edu/articles/2014/08/081914-outreach-nepalworkshop.html
IPM Innovation Lab 2012–2013 Annual Report now Available Online
Posted in Bacteria, Biological control, Biopesticide, Control tactics, Crop protection, Cultural control, Education, Emerging/invasive pests, Food Security, Fungi, Host plant resistance, Insects, Insects, IPM, Nematodes, Pest diagnostics, Pests, Plant Pathogens, Quarantine, Technology transfer, Viruses, Weeds, Weeds, tagged academic training, Africa, Asia, Bangladesh, biocontrol, capacity building, Caribbean, Central Asia, cultural control, farmer training, gender equity, Indonesia, IPM, IPM Innovation Lab at Virginia Tech, Latin America, Nepal, Parthenium, pest management, short term training, Southeast Asia, Trichoderma, West Africa. South Asia on June 27, 2014| Leave a Comment »
Annual Report 2013
Posted on May 27, 2014 by Kelly Izlar
The IPM Innovation Labs’s FY 2013 (October 1, 2012–September 30, 2013) annual report is now available. Click below to download the document.
http://www.oired.vt.edu/ipmcrsp/publications/annual-reports/annual-report-2013/
For users with lower bandwidth and/or with interest in only certain specific topic areas, we will split individual chapters and major sections out of the Annual Report for you to view individually. Check back in the coming weeks for a list of individual chapters and sections for download. For more information contact: rmuni@vt.edu
Table of Contents
Management Entity Message
Highlights and Achievements in 2012–2013
Regional Programs
Latin America and the Caribbean
East Africa
West Africa
South Asia
Southeast Asia
Central Asia
Global Programs
Parthenium
International Plant Diagnostic Network (IPDN)
International Plant Virus Disease Network (IPVDN)
Impact Assessment
Gender Equity, Knowledge, and Capacity Building
Associate & Buy-In Awards
Indonesia
Nepal
Bangladesh
Training and Publications
Short- and Long-Term Training
Publications
Appendices: Collaborating Institutions and Acronyms