Using Sunn pest management information provided by ICARDA, the Central Asia Development Group (CADG) was able to save approximately 12.8 million dollars worth of wheat in Helmand Province of Afghanistan. According to Steve Shaulis, director of CADG, "we launched an emergency program with our extension workers, supported by community volunteers, and our program covered 32,000 acres in around 7 days." The Sunn pest infestation was effectively controlled.
It is estimated that over 200,000 hectares of irrigated wheat production in Afghanistan was rendered unusable after being infested by Sunn pest (Eurygaster integriceps) in 2002. Along with the evolution of many of the world's most important crops, the Middle East and West Asia also host many of wheat and barley's most damaging pests. This insect damages crops by feeding on the plants and by injecting chemicals that cause the grain's gluten to break down. If as little as 2 or 3% of the grain in a crop has been affected, the grain is unusable for baking.
This eradication of Sunn pest in Helmand was achieved by using specific quantities of recommended pesticides. For long-term management solutions, training will be provided in Integrated Pest Management in Kabul in June of 2003. As part of the short-term, high impact grant projects in Afghanistan, ICARDA scientist, Dr. Moustafa Bohssini is working with Dr. Bruce Parker of the University of Vermont, CABI Bioscience, the University of Greenwich and national agricultural programs in Iran, Turkey and Syria. This effort is funded by USAID.