Funded by: TCP/SFE/3801 (E) “Enhance the Preparedness and Response Capacity of the Countries of the Sub-Regional Office for Eastern Africa to the Mango Mealybug (Rastrococcus Invadens Williams) (Phase 1)”
FAO contracted KEPHIS through COPE to host a Diagnostic training on Mealy bugs and their parasitoids in East Africa from 1st to 21st November, 2021 for nine countries i.e Burundi, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan and Uganda. A total of 22 persons attended the training.
The training was a specialized taxonomic training on Mealy bugs which involved intensive field and laboratory work guided by the world’s top taxonomists from the British Museum, United Kingdom and KEPHIS collaborators from KEPHIS Plant quarantine station.
The intended outputs of the training was to equip the trainees from each of the nine countries to develop the skills necessary for in-country mealybug identification, through practice after the training. The training manual provided will be an identification guide to the mealybugs of continental Africa, based on a manuscript currently in preparation for publication.