Plant Protection Quarantine Division
Overview of Plant Protection And Quarantine Division
Description
Consists of four teams and these are Entomology, Plant Pathology, Food Conservation & Storage and Plant Quarantine and Phytosanitary Services.
OBJECTIVES
Overall Objective
To develop and adapt appropriate plant protection and post-harvest technologies in order to prevent and/or minimise crop losses due to pests and diseases and enhance broad utilization of food crops.
Specific Objectives
- Develop disease and pest control technologies and provide advisory specialist services to stakeholders.
- Develop post-harvest technologies that minimise storage losses and enhance broad utilization of food crops.
- Develop strategies and provide services in order to retard the introduction of pests and diseases in the country and facilitate international trade.
STRUCTURE
The teams and sections of the division are outlined below:
Entomology
- Entomology (Cereals, Food legumes,cotton, Roots & Tubers)
- Biological Control
- Weed Science
- Plant pests clinic Services
Plant Pathology
- Mycology
- Virology
- Bacteriology
- Nematology
- Plant Disease Clinic Services
Food Conservation And Storage
- Storage Entomology
- Mammalogy
- Food Processing
- Storage Engineering
Plant Quarantine And Phytosanitary Services
- Plant & Insect Quarantine
- Plant Health Inspection
- Seed Health Testing
- Phytosanitary Services
STAFF
The Division has 22 professional and 22 technical staff.
RESEARCH AREAS
Entomology
- Control and containment of the Larger Grain Borer
- Biological control of cassava mealybugs and greenmites
- Control of armoured crickets
- Survey for important insect pests
- Use of botanical pesticides for controlling insect pests
Plant Pathology
- Survey for plant diseases
- Screening crop plants for tolerance to diseases
- Identification and advisory services
Food Conservation and Storage
- Designing/improvement of on-farm storage structures.
- Screening/evaluation of botanical grain protectants for their efficacy against Insect pests of stored products.
- Development of appropriate methods of processing crops to avoid losses,improve storability and enhance utilisation.
- Development and promotion of Integrated Pest and Commodity management (IPCM) strategies for prevention of post-harvest losses.
Plant Quarantine and Phytosanitary Services
- Enforcement of Plant Quarantine Phytosanitary Service (PQPS) regulations
- Survey for seed borne pathogens
- Establishment of Plant Quarantine Phytosanitary services at strategic border posts.
- Certification of imports and exports of plant, plant materials and plant products.
