Press release

Breakthrough in fighting locusts and grasshoppers:

USAID-financed study finds low-dose biopesticide effective against grasshoppers

DAKAR, October 19, 2007 -- Researchers in USAID-sponsored advanced field trials just completed in Senegal have found that a more cost-effective, low dose of biopesticide reduced hungry grasshopper populations by more than 90%.

Senegalese agriculture workers spray Green Muscle biopesticide in Khelcom to reduce populations of grasshoppers. Photo by R. Nyberg, USAID

This is important news for Senegal and its neighbors in the Sahel region as they fight their annual battle with crop-munching grasshoppers and prepare for potential large-scale infestation by future locust swarms.

The trials are part of a $3.1 million USAID assistance package to farmers and herders in the region following desert locust infestation in 2004 that wiped out entire harvests, making life even more difficult for thousands of rural poor families.

“Green Muscle”, a biological control product for combating locusts and grasshoppers, was developed with international donor support over a 10-year period and is now commercially available. It is registered in nine West African countries, including Senegal. Green Muscle is made from the spores of a fungal disease specific to grasshoppers and locusts. It will not harm other insects, birds, or animals. At the current recommended dose of 50g of spores per hectare for hand-held sprayers, trucks, or aircraft, Green Muscle remains more expensive to use than conventional chemical pesticides. However, recent research findings, indicate that the cost of using Green Muscle can be halved by reducing the dose is reduced by 50% without compromising its effectiveness.

USAID/Senegal supported tests by the Senegal Plant Protection Service (DPV) of low doses of Green Muscle to promote its economical use during large-scale spray programs. A research team just spent five weeks camping in the grasslands of Khelcom, spraying Green Muscle, and measuring its effect on grasshopper populations. Results from this field trial in Khelcom in central Senegal indicate that half the normal dose of the non-toxic Green Muscle biopesticide will kill grasshoppers equally well.  In sprayed parcels the grasshopper densities dropped to 50% within ten days and 95% after three weeks. 

“With this research, we have proven that we can significantly reduce the cost of biopesticides,” said Aminata Niane Badiane, Agriculture and Natural Resource Management Specialist at USAID/Senegal. “Biopesticides are especially effective in attacking young grasshoppers and locusts; the small ones eat everything.”

An adult grasshoper in central Senegal. Photo by R. Nyberg, USAID

According to DPV’s chief entomologist Kemo Badji who heads up the research, Senegal currently has enough green muscle to treat up to 30,000 hectares. He is sold on the benefits of the product. “Senegal will gain much by using biopesticide in terms of health and economy,” he said, noting that the product is safe and that biopesticide only needs to be applied once, whereas chemical pesticides may need to be sprayed several times during a growing season.  
Because Green Muscle is made from spores of a fungus that kills only grasshoppers and locusts, it does not harm other organisms. Spores from an application of Green Muscle grow inside a grasshopper or locust, eventually killing it, but this disease does not grow in other organisms. When conventional chemical pesticides are sprayed they work quickly, but can harm sensitive environments because they are toxic to many organisms. Biopesticides such as Green Muscle take longer to work than conventional chemical pesticides because they are diseases not poisons.

When chemical pesticides are sprayed over large areas during a locust invasion, it is difficult for non-target populations to recover from the widespread use of poisons. Because of its specificity for grasshoppers and locusts, Green Muscle is well-suited for spraying in sensitive environments such as national forests and national parks or when large areas need to be sprayed. When Green Muscle replaces chemical insecticides birds are not poisoned by eating sprayed grasshoppers. Beneficial insects such as bees are not killed by Green Muscle sprays, and it is not necessary to keep livestock out of sprayed areas for three days as is required when chemical pesticides are used.

The field trial in Khelcom is one of several DPV activities that USAID/Senegal is supporting to promote operational use of biopesticides against grasshoppers and locusts in Senegal. The project is part of the Integrated Pest Management Collaborative Research Support Program managed by the American university, Virginia Tech.

It is expected that as Green Muscle becomes more economical, it will be used more frequently by national spray programs in West Africa. And as DPV/Senegal incorporates Green Muscle into regular grasshopper control operations, Senegal’s environment will benefit as well.

Results will now be sent to the Sahel Pesticide Committee (CSP, Comité Sahélien des pesticides) in Bamako, Mali. Once validated by the CSP, the results will enable other countries in the subregion to market Green Muscle at the lower dose.

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