Scientists urged to boost budget to eliminate whitefly

Speaking yesterday at the second international whitefly symposium held in Arusha, they said adequate budget was needed to conduct both fruitful research and build capacity for scientists.

The director of Research and Development in the Northern Zone, Dr January Mafuru, said that in recent years, farmers in different parts of the country had witnessed the invasion of the whiteflies that destroy vegetables, beans, cassava and sweet potatoes.

He said the whiteflies and whitefly-transmitted viruses (WTVs) were also some of the biggest constraints to vegetable production, with farmers often resorting to heavy use of pesticides and putting their lives and that of customers at risk.

If the whiteflies are not controlled, he warned, efforts to ensure sustainable food security and reduce poverty in rural areas would be in vain.

“Research on the whitefly is also limited. Apart from lack of adequate funding, there is a limited number of vector entomologists with the required expertise to manage the whitefly and associated problems,” he pointed out.

For his part, the Officer in Charge at Mikocheni Agriculture Research Institute (MARI), Dr Joseph Ndunguru, challenged the scientists to put a smile on farmers’ faces by working around the clock to eliminate the whiteflies.

“We have a lot to do for farmers who have been losing their crops due to whitefly damage and the viral diseases which they transmit. The question is, can we use our research findings to at least put a smile on them? It takes will, faith, commitments and sacrifice to achieve this,” he said.

He said though whiteflies look so tiny, their devastating effects are impossible to ignore. Citing the example of vegetables, cassava, cotton, sweet potato and flowers, he said many countries have suffered losses caused by the fly and Tanzania was not spared.

The director of International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Dr Victor Manyong, explained that the threats posed by whitefly required serious and collective interventions by scientists.

“IITA has been conducting several research and projects and will continue to collaborate with other partners to help farmers get rid of the diseases,” he said.

The second International whitefly Symposium (IWS) has brought together 130 participants from around the world and is aimed at fostering research and education around a broad range of whitefly-related topics of local, national and global interests.

It is jointly organised by MARI under the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security and the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA).

The symposium is a series of specialised scientific meetings that resulted out of a merger of the international Bemisia Workshop (IBWS) and the European Whitefly Symposium (EWS ).