Virginia Tech Intervention Against A Deadly Pest in India Saves Indian Farmers And Consumers Over A Billion $ In Five Years

If Virginia Tech researchers had not intervened, India may have lost billions of dollars against a devastating pest. The scientists devised a natural way to combat pestilence. The economic value on their counterattack has been estimated at up to $309 million the first year and more than $1 billion over five years.

The pest identified was papaya mealybug which might have wreaked havoc among Indian farmers and consumers without the intervention of scientists. The pest ripped through crops including papaya, eggplant, and tomato in southern India – causing mold and stunted growth – before Rangaswamy "Muni" Muniappan of Virginia Tech identified the pest and spearheaded the natural control program.

The cost of intervention was relatively modest, estimated at $200,000 during the first year of the intervention. The cost of devastation, according to Muniappan and other scientists could have been anywhere between $524 million to $1.34 billion over five years. The report is published in the February issue of the journal Crop Protection.

"India's first efforts to eradicate the papaya mealybug failed," said Muniappan, who heads up Virginia Tech's federally funded Integrated Pest Management Innovation Lab program, a venture that works in developing countries to minimize crop losses, increase farmer income, and decrease pesticide use. "The government and farmers tried spraying pesticides, but crop losses kept getting larger. It was clear to us that this was a case not for poisons but for natural, biological controls."

The intervention approach focused on three parasitic wasps from Mexico, natural enemies of the mealybug. The U.S.government had used these parasites in Florida in late 1990s against the threat of the same pests. The wasp lays its eggs inside the mealybug larvae, and when the eggs hatch, the young wasps eat the larvae.

Virginia Tech's work to stop the papaya mealybug is "an important contribution" to protecting U.S. crops, says Marjorie A. Hoy, a University of Florida entomologist not associated with the Virginia Tech study who was instrumental in controlling a Florida infestation.

"It's impossible for regulatory agencies at the borders to inspect and remove any infested material – they try, but it's impossible to do it all," Hoy says. "I'm happy to hear that [Virginia Tech scientists] conducted an economic analysis. That is so often missing in biological-control projects."

Scientists first identified the papaya mealybug in Mexico, where natural enemies kept it under control, according to the research paper. It was found on St. Martin Island in 1995, and by 2000 it had spread to Florida, the Caribbean, and Central and South America.

The pest's march continued, taking it to Guam in 2002 and the Hawaiian Islands in 2004. India's problem began in 2006.
(Image Courtsey: The Hindu)