Tamegon Hospice Tossou

• Biodiversity
• Food and nutrition
• Agriculture, land use, climate change

• Benin

The Fall Army Worm (FAW) is a moth that attacks maize crops in Benin and Africa. This moth causes yield loss between 49 to 100%. The larvae make windows on the maize leaves and bore into maize cobs, making the maize unfit for human consumption or sale. The impact of FAW on food security among maize farmers in Benin is significant, as the pest can lead to decreased yields, reduced income, and increased food insecurity of the population of which more than 65% depend on agricultural income.

This proposal seeks to work together with farmers to develop and promote more sustainable and integrated pest management strategies to control FAW and reduce its impact on food security in Benin. The research will investigate the perception and knowledge of farmers on FAW, evaluate the abilities of different maize variety to produce toxicity in larval populations of FAW after inoculation of fungus entomopathogen (Beauveria bassiana) into maize plants and finally evaluate the effects of volatiles produced by these fungus-infested plants on the food preference of FAW and its parasitic wasp Telenomus remus.

I will employ a mixed method: (I) Field survey in which I will conduct focus group discussions and interviews to understand the local knowledge and management practices of farmers at the farm level and possible impacts of their habits on beneficial species like birds, bats and parasitic wasps. (II) in the laboratory, the entomopathogenic fungus B. bassiana will be allowed to endophytically colonize maize plants and evaluated for its toxicity on the early larval stages. The endophytically colonized maize will be further assessed for its ability to produce info-chemicals (volatile cues) that mediate the food preference behavior of FAW and its parasitic wasp Telenomus remus.

Dr. Jan Henning Sommer

Principal Supervisor: Prof. Christian Borgemeister

Co-Supervisor: Dr. Manuele TAMÓ

Plant protection, Chemical ecology and plant breeding

MPHIL in Entomology

Pest management, Chemical ecology, Breeding

The Foundation Fiat Panis

The German Academic Exchange Service – DAAD

The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA)-CGIAR

The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA)-CGIAR

The German Academic Exchange Service – DAAD

Principal Supervisor: Prof. Christian Borgemeister

Co-Supervisor: Dr. Manuele TAMÓ

Dr. Jan Henning Sommer

cv-Hospice.pdf [PDF | 240.68KB]