Project outlines Seychelles plant diseases |07 March 2005
The inventory was part of the Plant Protection Regional Project, an Indian Ocean Commission initiative funded by the European Union. The 5 million Euro project aims to help farmers in different countries in the region identify and control plant diseases.
Jill Wurster, a plant pathologist based in France, described the results of the inventory – based on samples collected from Mahe, Praslin and La Digue – at a presentation at the Seychelles Fishing Authority headquarters, detailing how fungi, bacteria and some plant viruses have affected vegetables like aubergine, tomatoes and chilis.
According to Plant Protection Services director Ravi Subramaniam, around 20 new diseases have been identified through the new survey. More details about the way some viruses attack certain crops are also now available, he said.
Plant protection, a division of the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, would aim to guide farmers to deal with the new diseases through integrated pest management, Mr Subramaniam said.
As part of the regional project, special assistance has been granted to Seychelles and Comoros to develop their pest inventories, because other countries in the region like Mauritius and Madagascar already have fairly thorough information, said Will Dogley, the technical adviser for the Department of Natural Resources.
An entomologist is expected to be brought in later this year for an inventory on Seychelles insects considered harmful to crops, he said.
The project also has been designed to establish a computer networking system between countries for shared inventories, as well as to harmonise legislation on plant protection measures in the region, Mr Dogley said, noting that both would help Indian Ocean countries avoid additional plant nuisances.
Research is another component of the project, involving a number of studies, one of which is currently being carried out to determine how much pesticide residue remains in some plants and crops once reaching the table.