The Latest News

June 6, 2019
Check out our latest work on longan featured in Entomology Today: New Guide Details Pest-management Practices for Longan

June 5, 2019
Happy World Environment Day!


May 22, 2019
Happy International Biodiversity Day! Check out the ways we are maintaining the world’s most valuable natural resources.


April 1, 2019
The IPM IL is using cellphone tech to combat food security issues. Read more about it in the latest VT News article Virginia Tech taps text message services to assist farmers in developing countries.

March 20, 2019
NEW VIDEO: View a how-to video for using natural enemies against the devastating millet head miner.

March 15, 2019
Women’s History Month marks a timely moment to acknowledge the value of conducting gender research in IPM. Learn about how it strengthens and reinforces the work the IPM IL does to increase global food security in the latest Entomology Today article, Gender Research in IPM: Women’s Empowerment as a Key to Unlocking Food Security.

February 15, 2019
Icipe, one of the IPM IL’s major collaborators, will host a Training Workshop on Indigenous Biological Control Agents of the Fall Armyworm in Nairobi, Kenya in February.

February 11, 2019
Happy International Day of Women and Girls in Science! Women continue to make important contributions to science, especially through agriculture. Help us celebrate their work in the latest Food Tank article, Celebrating Women in Science: Eight Women Breaking Ground in Agriculture.

February 1, 2019
IPM IL releases a success story on the Push-Pull technique currently helping farmers increase crop productivity in Africa.

January 29, 2019
Interested in best management practices? Check out the Agrilinks article Knowledge Management: Online and Offline Tools for Global Success.

December 9, 2018
The IPM Innovation Lab has long warned countries of impending pest invasions: A Dangerous Pest is on its way to Nepal

December 5, 2018
The IPM Innovation Lab gets a mention! Virginia Tech has been selected to write the Global Agricultural Productivity (GAP) Report.

December 4, 2018
IPM IL Director Muni Muniappan traveled to Nepal for the November 30 stakeholders workshop on Preparedness and Rapid Response to Threats of Fall Armyworm in Nepal.



November 20, 2018
IPM IL has a new November article on the fall armyworm in Entomology Today, a follow-up piece to an article published there in September!

November 15, 2018
A new video about IPM IL’s biocontrol approach to the devastating fall armyworm in Africa is out today.

November 16, 2018
Icipe, one of the IPM IL’s major collaborators, will host a training workshop on Fall Armyworm in Kenya in January.

October 24, 2018
Check out the IPM Innovation Lab’s latest piece in Agrilinks on the biocontrol of the pearl millet head miner: Value-Added Food and Processes: Biocontrol Opens New Prospects in the Sahel

October 17, 201
CIRED, which houses the IPM Innovation Lab, welcomes a new Director of Communications!

October 16, 2018
Major congratulations to our very own visiting entomologist and collaborator, Tran Thi My Hanh, finalist for the Agrilinks Young Scholars Blog Contest! Look out for Hanh’s blog in the upcoming weeks on the Agrilinks website.

October 1, 2018
CIRED has published a newsletter! Check out the many stories the IPM Innovation Lab has been featured in.

September 27, 2018
September 27-29, IPM IL Director Muni Muniappan traveled to Bangaluru, India for the First International Conference on Biological Control. Check out the schedule of events and the impressive abstracts presented on Tuta absoluta and Parthenium from IPM IL collaborators! IPM IL represented about 50 participants from five continents.

September 27, 2018
Learn about why biological control is an efficient mode for controlling the Fall Armyworm.

September 14, 2018
Virginia Tech researchers make small discovery that could keep millions from going hungry
IPM IL makes the top story in VT News for Fall Armyworm work!

September 1, 2018
IPM IL travels to India for the First International Conference on Biological Control
September 27-29, IPM IL Director Muni Muniappan and others will be travelling to Bangaluru, India for the First International Conference on Biological Control. Check out the schedule of events and the impressive abstracts to be presented on Tuta absoluta and Parthenium from IPM IL collaborators!

August 23, 2018
August 26, Muni Muniappan will speak about the constraints and opportunities for biological control in developing countries at the Symposium on the Biological Control of Weeds in Switzerland.

August 1, 2018
Mapping Climate Change, Invasive Species, and Semblances of Hope:
The IPM Innovation Lab is currently working on a project that will map invasive species and climate change within the CHAL region of Nepal.

July 30, 2018
Virginia Tech’s Simple Fix for Vietnam Cuts Pesticide Use, Sends Bugs Packing
Check out the IPM Innovation Lab’s latest news release in VT News about successful fruit sleeving and bagging in Vietnam: Virginia Tech’s Simple Fix for Vietnam Cuts Pesticide Use, Sends Bugs Packing

July 15, 2018
IPM IL Travels to Boston
From July 29 to August 3 in Boston, IPM IL will be participating in a symposium at the International Congress of Plant Pathology (ICPP) 2018: Plant Health in A Global Economy.

July 1, 2018
IPM IL Travels to Niger
In September of 2018, IPM IL Director Muni Muniappan and Communications Coordinator Sara Hendery will be travelling to Niger to help assess the pearl millet head miner and the Fall Armyworm.

June 30, 2018
First International Conference on Biological Control
September 27-29, IPM IL Director Muni Muniappan will be travelling to Bangaluru, India for the First International Conference on Biological Control. Check out the impressive abstracts to be presented on Tuta absoluta and Parthenium from IPM IL collaborators!

June 3, 2018
IPM IL Brings in Major Audience for Seminar in Cambodia
IPM IL Director Muni Muniappan, USAID representative John Bowman, and Entomologist Buyung Hadi gave a seminar at the Royal University of Agriculture (RUA) in Cambodia to over 70 students! See what CE SAIN, IPM IL collaborators, posted about their visit.

June 1, 2018
IPM IL Celebrates VT Graduate Upon Completion of Thesis on IPM, Gender, and Geography
Kaitlyn Spangler, recent graduate of the Geography Master’s program at Virginia Tech, talks to us about the experience of completing her research in Nepal and how the many elements of her travels tie together.

May 10, 2018
Virginia Tech Collaborator with Ties to IPM IL Wins Major Award
Laouali Amadou, a Ph.D. student studying entomology at the University of Niger, has won the Award for Scientific Excellence from the Board for International Food and Agricultural Development (BIFAD). The award is presented to a student working in a Feed the Future Innovation Lab who has demonstrated creativity in improving sustainable agriculture, food security, economic growth, and the communication of methods and technologies to communities. Moreover, the work the awardee completes must avoid any harm to the environment.
Amadou’s studies focus on the development of biological controls for the pearl millet head miner. Pearl millet is Niger’s most crucial crop, but the millet head miner threatens to damage nearly 85% of its yields. The loss and degradation of the crop could cause millions to go hungry; further, control of the pest using insecticides is unrealistic for subsistence farmers. The millet head miner has several natural enemies, including parasitoids that Amadou and his fellow researchers will release or are already releasing in Niger’s fields. In relation to Amadou’s work, George Norton, Virginia Tech Professor in the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, said that even if only 15% of farmers are affected by beneficial insects, the gains over twenty years would equal several hundreds of millions of dollars. The hope is that the mass-rearing and dissemination of the parasitoids will create a cottage industry that local people, like women’s groups and farmers, will be able to get involved in for additional income.
Amadou recently spent time at Virginia Tech, one of his many collaborators, receiving mentorship and guidance from IPM Innovation Lab Director Muni Muniappan to help him complete his thesis on the biological controls of the pearl millet head miner. Upon completion, he will become Niger’s eighth entomologist, which makes winning the prestigious Award for Scientific Excellence that much more valuable. Amadou accept his award on May 9 in Washington, D.C and he will soon return to Niger to continue his work.

March 28, 2018
Women Find Work with the Help of an Entrepreneur and a ‘Fighting Fungus'”
In fields and farms of the Bogura District of Bangladesh, entrepreneur Rebeka Sultana is giving an already prolific fungus even more transformative power.

May 10, 2018
IPM IL Director’s Book Flies Off the Internet’s Shelves
In April 2018, IPM IL Director Muni Muniappan’s book Integrated Pest Management of Tropical Vegetable Crops was listed as one of the top 50% most downloaded eBooks with several thousand viewers. Download the book here!

April 27, 2018
IPM IL Hosts Yet Another Successful Webinar
On April 27, 2017 IPM IL hosted a successful webinar on Tuta absoluta, the tomato leafminer destroying tomato crops across the globe. There were three excellent presenters who each focused on their particular expertise: Nicolas Desneux Researcher, Institut Sophia Agrobiotech Inra, PACA, France presented on Biology and Ecology of Tuta absoluta, Abhijin Adiga, PhD Research Assistant Professor at the Network Dynamics and Simulation Science Laboratory (NDSSL), Biocomplexity Institute of Virginia Tech presented on Modeling the multi-pathway dispersal mechanisms of Tuta absoluta, and Thierry Brévault, PhD Insect Ecologist, CIRAD, France presented on Management of Tuta absoluta. View their presentations and conversations here.

February 28, 2018
IPM IL has hosted a second webinar and it was incredibly well received. Three speakers presented on their specific expertise: Nakkeeran Sevugapperumal, Ph.D., Department of Plant Pathology, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, India, presented on the Popularization of Trichoderma Technology, Rabin Adhikari, Director, Agricare Nepal Pvt. Ltd., presented on the Successful Commercialization of Trichoderma, and Yousuf Mia, Ph.D., Coordinator, IPM Innovation Lab in Bangladesh, Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI), presented on Tricho-compost and plant disease management. See their presentations here.

October 31, 2017
IPM Researcher, VT Student Wins Major Award
On October 14 2017, an entomology graduate student from Niger with ties to Muniappan and the Innovation Lab won the BIFAD graduate student Award for Scientific Excellence at an event held in conjunction with the World Food Prize ceremonies in Des Moines.

October 16, 2017
IPM Practices for Healthy Crops and Healthy Families
Ms. Harriett Muthoni joined the Nthambo farmers group after farming for at least 10 years. In her previous farming experience, she grew a mix of maize and vegetables for market and to feed her family.

October 16,2017
Kenyan Farmer Takes Captures Market for Healthy Vegetable Seedlings
After graduation from Jomo Kenyatta University, Eston Mbuba got a job in Kenya’s crowded capital of Nairobi. He soon found his housing, food, transportation, and other living expenses too high, and his income too, with little hope this would change.

August 7, 2017
Berks Woman Back After 2-Month Study in Nepal
IPM Innovation Lab graduate student Kaitlyn Spangler talks to her hometown news station about her gender research in Nepal, what she’s learned, and what she hopes to achieve (video).

August 7, 2017
IPM Innovation Lab scientists rally international coalition to stop a pestilent ‘army’
The fall armyworm – devastating to corn in Ethiopia, Tanzania, Kenya, and elsewhere – is subject of an emergency workshop July 14 through 16 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to slow the pest’s advance in Africa and prevent its penetration into Southern Europe.

June 9, 2017
IPM IL Contributes to Books on Rice
The IPM Innovation Lab’s Asia Program Manager, E.A. “Short” Heinrichs, contributed chapters to two books on rice cultivation. The volumes Achieving sustainable cultivation of rice Vols. 1 & 2 draws on an international range of expertise to focus on ways of improving the cultivation of rice at each step in the value chain, from breeding to post-harvest storage.
The volumes, published by Burleigh Dodds are available here.

June 1, 2017
Virginia Tech helps Nepal mobilize against devastating pest (video)
Climate change increases the risk for invasive species as more hospitable weather allows movement into new areas. With no natural enemies to stop it, the tomato leafminer Tuta absoluta can wipe out a country’s tomato harvest.
The pest, if left unchecked in Nepal, could be devastating for farmers and consumers in a country where 70 percent of the population works in agriculture.
To help the country take steps that will help spare vital food crops, the Integrated Pest Management Innovation Lab outlined strategies during a symposium it organized on the tomato pest at an international climate change conference in Kathmandu.

As corn pest ravages crops in Africa, Virginia Tech program leads the charge
June 1, 2017
An invader destroying maize in Africa is hitting countries where drought and political instability have already caused hunger. Virginia Tech’s Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Integrated Pest Management has mobilized to coordinate an attack on the fall armyworm.

Workshop and a Bagamoyo Farmer Make Seedling Health the Foundation of IPM
March 15, 2017
On a normal day, Joseph Mbuji’s business is managing the production, harvest, and delivery components of his diversified Bagamoyo vegetable farm. But recently, he found himself delivering a lecture about his farm to an international audience.

IPM Innovation Lab co-hosts international climate change conference in Nepal
March 1, 2017
To work on important issues in the face of climate change, the IPM Innovation Lab’s project on biodiversity and climate change assessment in Nepal organized the three-day International Conference on Biodiversity, Climate Change Assessment, and Impacts on Livelihood in Nepal.

February 24, 2017
Thank you for taking the time to read our winter installment of the Integrated Pest Management Innovation Lab newsletter. The last few months have included project planning meetings, invasive pest workshops, and even an international conference on climate change and biodiversity in Nepal.

February 13, 2017
IPM Innovation Lab compiles book on 20 years of IPM in tropical countries
Skeptics of integrated pest management have always existed, especially doubters of its effectiveness in the developing world where food insecurity is a daily struggle. But a new book edited by Virginia Tech entomologist Rangaswamy “Muni” Muniappan shows the vital role of environmentally friendly integrated pest management practices in feeding the world’s growing population.

February 13, 2017
Innovation Lab collaboration works to control insects that attack Niger’s most important food crop
Two major pests attack pearl millet, the most important food crop in Niger in West Africa, and some scientists and policymakers believed that only one of them could be controlled. But Virginia Tech entomologist and IPM Innovation Lab Director Muniappan had a hunch.

November 7, 2016
Welcome to our fall edition of the Integrated Pest Management Innovation Lab newsletter. We’ve been very busy and productive over the last few months and I’m excited to share with you some of what we’ve done

November 7, 2016
EPIC: A new partnership for rice pest management in Cambodia
Article by one of our project leaders, the International Rice Research Institute, about the work they are doing on our Rice IPM in Cambodia project.

November 2, 2016
IPM Innovation Lab researchers spoke at the International Congress of Entomology
Scientists and researchers gathered at the International Congress of Entomology in Orlando, Florida last month, and the IPM Innovation Lab was there. During the Congress, we led two symposia, including one symposium on the global spread of the South American tomato leafminer, Tuta absoluta, resulting in the group recommending a number of measures.

October 10, 2016
Arab and Near East Plant Protection Newsletter
Check out the latest issue of the Arab and Near East Plant Protection Newsletter, ANEPPNEL 67, April 2016, published jointly by the Arab Society for Plant Protection and the Near East and North Africa Regional Office of the FAO.

October 7, 2016
Biological control agents are farmers’ friends
The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), under the aegis of their Rice IPM project with IPM IL, collaborated with GIZ to conduct a biocontrol forum in Phnom Penh with roughly 140 participants.

October 7, 2016
IPM IL finds sterile soil and rice-damaging nematode in Cambodia
When Jon Eisenback, professor of plant nematology at Virginia Tech’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, conducted nematode surveys on vegetables and rice in Cambodia this past August, one of the most surprising things he encountered in the vegetable fields was, in a word, nothing.

September 23, 2016
Invasive weed Parthenium damaged by beetle thanks to IPM IL project
Parthenium hysterophorus L. is a native plant of tropical and sub-tropical South and North America that adversely affects food security, biodiversity, and the health of both humans and livestock in East Africa.

September 22, 2016
Parthenium presentation in Algiers
Wondi Mersie, PI for the IPM Innovation Lab’s Biological control of the invasive weed Parthenium hysterophorus in East Africa project, was invited by Dr. Shoki Al-Dobai, Crop Protection Officer for FAO to speak about the spread, economic, social and environmental importance and management practices of the Parthenium at the Annual Regional Workshop of the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) for the Near East and North Africa region held in Algiers, Algeria from September 5 to 8.

September 23, 2016
The IPM Innovation Lab conducted a three-day workshop on “Diagnosis and Management of Plant Virus Diseases” at the Plant Pathology Division of the Royal University of Agriculture (RUA) in Phnom Penh, Cambodia from August 10-12, 2016.

September 19, 2016
The Coming Tomatopocalypse: Could a Tiny Moth Make Ketchup Scarce?
Our work fighting the spread of Tuta absoluta, the South American tomato leafminer was covered in the daily food and agriculture news publication, Civil Eats.

September 7, 2016
You Say Tomato, These Moths Say Dinner
Director Muni Muniappan is featured in this New York Times article about Tuta absoluta and its potential to invade the United States.

August 11, 2016
IPM Innovation Lab hosts meeting at Virginia Tech
On July 7th and 8th, 2016, the IPM Innovation Lab hosted a joint meeting of our project PIs and our Technical Advisory Committee.

August 10, 2016
IPM IL’s workshop in Cambodia invokes power of the ‘fighting fungus’ (with video)
The so-called fighting fungus, Trichoderma, is great at eating “bad” fungi as well as promoting plant growth. For developing countries where crop pests and diseases are a major problem, Trichoderma is a vital tool.


July 5, 2016
Here are some of the recent trending headlines that IPMers and Feed the Future fans are talking about!

July 5, 2016
There was a Trichoderma workshop in Cambodia from June 13-17, 2016 and the IPM Innovation Lab hosted the workshop “Production and use of bio-control agent Trichoderma and plant growth promoting Rhizobacteria” at the Royal University of Agriculture in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

June 30, 2016
Niger Ph.D. student Laouali Amadou is on track to become the eighth entomologist in his home country.

June 30, 2016
Wondi Mersie has been working with the IPM Innovation Lab, formerly the IPM Collaborative Research Support Program, since 2005.

June 30, 2016
Hello readers, Welcome to the third edition of our Integrated Pest Management Innovation Lab newsletter.

June 10, 2016
Director Muni Muniappan was interviewed for an article on Bloomberg.com “Africa’s Big Tomato Pickle: Miner Grubs are Wiping Them Out.”

June 2, 2016
“There is no silver bullet” for tomatoes’ pest problem
Muni Muniappan, an entomologist and expert in pest management at Virginia Tech, says the near total destruction of Nigeria’s tomato crop caused by Tuta absoluta, also known as the South American tomato leaf miner, is the latest precursor to the devastating pest’s likely arrival in the United States.

May 4, 2016
Planning Meetings Held for East Africa Projects
From March 28 to April 6, 2016, members from two IPM Innovation Lab teams traveled to Ethiopia, Kenya, and Tanzania for the first planning meetings of the “Vegetable IPM for East Africa” and “Grains IPM for East Africa” projects.

May 3, 2016
Devastating wheat fungus appears in Asia for first time
Scientists race to determine origin of Bangladesh outbreak, which they warn could spread farther afield.

April 7, 2016
Invasive Modeling Project Featured on VTNews Site
Check out Virginia Tech’s piece on our Invasive Species Modeling for South American Tomato Leafminer and Groundnut Leafminer project, in conjunction with Virginia Tech’s Biocomplexity Institute.

March 29, 2016
IPM Team Attends Emerging Plant Disease and Global Food Security Symposium
Last week, IPM IL Director Muni Muniappan and Associate Director Amer Fayad, along with IPM project PI Abhijin Adiga, attended the Emerging Plant Disease and Global Food Security Symposium at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, NC, March 23-24, 2016.

March 23, 2016
IPM IL Conducts Virus Training in Nepal
The IPM Innovation Lab (IPM IL) conducted a three day “Training on Diagnosis of Plant Virus Diseases in Vegetable Crops” at the Plant Pathology Division of the Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC) in Kathmandu, Nepal March 1-3, 2016.


March 21, 2016
Here are some of the recent trending headlines that IPMers and Feed the Future fans are talking about.

March 21, 2016
Recent Highlights and Happenings
The team went to Ethiopia in December to begin planning on the current phase of the Parthenium project and to lead a workshop, where scientists discussed the advantages and challenges of biocontrol, the importance of gender when it comes to project planning, and the impact of Parthenium in Kenya and Tanzania.

March 21, 2016
We have received official USAID approval for all eight of our projects, and the planning has begun.

March 21, 2016
Aishwarya Bhattacharjee is a Ph.D. student in biology who was born in India and raised in Thailand and Bangladesh.

March 21, 2016
George Norton has been with the IPM Innovation Lab, formerly the IPM Collaborative Research Support Program, since the very beginning in 1993.

March 21, 2016
Hello readers, Welcome to the second edition of our Integrated Pest Management Innovation Lab newsletter!

January 18, 2016
IPM Awarded 100,000 Birr from Haramaya University for Parthenium Research
On the final day of a weed workshop in Ethiopia in December, 2015, the Innovation Lab’s Parthenium project was awarded 100,000 Birr by Haramaya University.

January 15, 2016
IPM Parthenium Project in IOBC Newsletter
Check us out in the December 2015 newsletter of the International Organization for Biological Control!

January 15, 2016
This month’s Outbursts, the monthly publication of Outreach and International Affairs, has spotlighted our program and recent trip to Ethiopia.

October 9, 2015
IPMers and Feed the Future fans are abuzz over recent trending headlines.

October 9, 2015
Over the past year, Dr. Muniappan’s mission to control the threat of the invasive species, Tuta absoluta has garnered attention in both national and local media.


October 9, 2015
Vanessa Carrion is an international student from Ecuador who plans to wrap up her Ph.D. in Economics by the end of the fall semester.

October 9, 2015
Introducing Nir Krakauer, the new Principal Investigator for a sub award of the Virginia Tech-led Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Integrated Pest Management.

October 9, 2015
Greetings, readers, Welcome to the very first edition of our Integrated Pest Management Innovation Lab newsletter!

September 18, 2015
Spread of Tuta absoluta, the South American tomato leafminer
A tiny moth no bigger than an eyelash has become a serious threat to the world’s tomato crop since it left its place of origin – South America – in 2006.

September 11, 2015
Director forms working group on invasive species
At the August meeting of the International Plant Protection Congress in Berlin, IPM IL director Muni Muniappan called for the formation of a working group on the invasive species Tuta absoluta – the South American tomato leafminer.

August 26, 2015
IPM IL wins plant protection award in Berlin
The opening ceremony of the International Plant Protection Congress prompted a proud moment for the Virginia Tech-led Integrated Pest Management Innovation Lab.

August 17, 2015
Agriculture in Nepal: How do we inspire a new generation to go into farming?
Sulav Paudel, an entomologist with a partner organization based in Kathmandu, presents his ideas on how to encourage young Nepalese to go into agriculture.

August 17, 2015
Innovation Lab’s work cuts crop losses
Halting climate change-induced crop losses could relieve pressure on farmers who are trying to satisfy burgeoning populations, according to IPM Innovation Lab researchers.

August 5, 2015
IPM research featured in Tanzanian newspaper
In July, 2015, the Integrated Pest Management Innovation Lab held a two-day workshop to help raise awareness of the danger of the invasive pest Tuta absoluta, or tomato leafminer.

June 9, 2015
IPM IL assists in post-earthquake recovery in Nepal
In Nepal, the Virginia Tech-led IPM Innovation Lab has switched gears from development work to disaster relief after the recent earthquakes.

June 8, 2015
USAID Nepal shares item about IPM IL on Facebook, reaches 76,000 people
USAID-Nepal shared an item about our work in Nepal that, as of June 6, had reached 76,672 people.

May 18, 2015
On the ground in Nepal: A first-person account of the earthquake
As many of you may have heard, a devastating earthquake struck Nepal last month, killing more than 8,000 people. Not three weeks later, a magnitude 7.3 earthquake again rocked the mountainous country.

April 29, 2015
When I checked the news on my iPad this past Saturday morning, I was dismayed to learn of a huge earthquake in Nepal.

April 15, 2015
IPM IL launches preemptive strike against destructive insect in Nepal
For the past eight years, scientists have been chasing a tiny invasive moth as it has ravaged its way through many European, North African, and Mediterranean countries. But a Virginia Tech-led program has finally caught up with it.

April 8, 2015
The IPM Innovation Lab (IPM IL) organized a six-day workshop on “Disease Diagnosis and Basic Plant Pathological Techniques for Early Career Scientists” in collaboration with the Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC) and iDE Nepal at the regional NARC station in Khajura, Banke, during April 6-12, 2015.

April 2, 2015
Virginia Tech agricultural economist wins lifetime achievement award
Measuring the economic impacts of IPM. Expanding the international scope of IPM. Identifying the traits of successful IPM programs. These contributions were cited in the awarding of the International IPM Lifetime Achievement Award to Virginia Tech agricultural economist George Norton.

April 1, 2015
Tomato leafminer discovered in India
Scientists in west central India recently discovered the invasive tomato leafminer, Tuta absoluta, in tomato fields. The devastating insect, a tiny moth no bigger than an eyelash, is now poised to strike tomato fields across India.

February 6, 2015
IPM Spreads to the Kingdom of Bhutan
When I say Bhutan, what do you think of? Snow leopards? A mountainous country in the eastern Himalayas? The only country with a Gross National Happiness indicator? It may now also become known for its beautiful vegetables.

February 4, 2015
IPM work in Africa featured on Scientific American blog
As the IPM Innovation Lab enters its fifth phase, it’s setting its sights on Tuta absoluta, a devastating, invasive tomato leafminer native to South America. Our work with farmers to combat this tiny moth was recently featured in the prestigious Scientific American.

January 13, 2015
Partnering with the private sector in Nepal
Rabin Adhikari has big ideas for Nepal. “I see a Nepal with thriving local businesses that help smallholder farmers produce better crops organically,” he said.

December 23, 2014
Virginia Tech has won a new $18 million grant for a program working to raise the standard of living of people around the world through environmentally sound agricultural practices.

December 11, 2014
IPM IL – Nepal issues first annual newsletter
The Integrated Pest Management Innovation Lab (IPM IL) is a global USAID program led by Virginia Tech with a consortium of Universities including Penn State and Ohio State.

October 16, 2014
IPM director wins award for work in tropical agriculture
Rangaswamy “Muni” Muniappan works to save the papaya industry in southern India. He connects researchers in developing countries. He has discovered an invasive species in Senegal and Nepal.

October 10, 2014
Morning pears with a booklouse
Advancing technology has indisputably sharpened the tools of scientific inquiry.

September 12, 2014
The Death’s Head Moth and other new additions to Muni’s growing insect collection
IPM Director IPM Innovation Lab has an ever-growing insect collection. He travels all over the world for workshops and conferences, and he takes his net with him everywhere he goes.

September 4, 2014
Burying Treasure: Virginia Tech programs collaborate to improve potato production in Ecuador
The potato is often described as a “humble” root — grubby and plebeian. But the potato literally feeds the hungry — it is the fifth most important crop worldwide.

August 12, 2014
International Agriculture Development — Now in Color!
Imagine you’re a farmer growing fruit on steep mountainous slopes. It’s hard work; you wake before dawn and spend most of the day on terraces and hillsides, tending to your crop. But things are getting harder.

August 8, 2014
“A map does not just chart, it unlocks and formulates meaning.”

July 24, 2014
Weed-eating Beetle to the Rescue
“We have to reduce pesticide use, and there is a way! It’s called biocontrol.” -Arne Witt

July 14, 2014
Workshop on Parthenium hysterophorus
The IPM Innovation Lab team co-hosted a workshop in Ethiopia on the biological control and management of the viciously invasive weed, Parthenium hysterophorus, which has much of Ethiopian farmland in a stranglehold.

July 9, 2014
Ever since I was a little girl, I wanted to travel. As a lover of Jane Austen, Middle Earth and Narnia, Europe of course, was first in my mind.

July 1, 2014
The Tiny Fungi Playing a Giant Role
Scientists, researchers, and agricultural experts from several countries (including India, Cambodia, Indonesia, Bangladesh, and Honduras) recently gathered in the rural town of Bharatpur, Nepal, to learn more about an inexpensive, environmentally friendly bio-agent called Trichoderma.

June 25, 2014
Parthenium, a flowering weed, is commonplace in the Americas. It appears innocent with simple, white blossoms and lacy foliage. But it has become a serious agricultural and rangeland weed in parts of Australia, Asia, Africa and the Pacific Islands.

June 13, 2014
Naranjilla: Complicated and Delicious
The moment that I was waiting for had finally come.

June 10, 2014
A workshop on the production and use of the biocontrol agent Trichoderma is underway in Nepal.

June 3, 2014
Name that Moth: Spring Love at OIRED
On the way out of the office for lunch, my eye was caught by a brownish clump hanging from the front-office window of the Office of International Research and Education and Development.

May 30, 2014
Each year, herbivorous insects are said to be responsible for destroying one fifth of the world’s total crop production (according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

May 30, 2014
Last week, one of my co-workers was exiting the lady’s room when she came to a sudden stop. There on the floor in front of her was a massively massive spider.

May 6, 2014
University-led workshop in Senegal combats invasive species in the tropics
A workshop in Senegal in mid-May will gather scientists and extension workers to address the topic of invasive species in the tropics. Virginia Tech’s international agricultural research program is hosting the workshop May 12-15 in the capital city of Dakar.

May 1, 2014
IPM Innovation Lab Director Muniappan featured in Outbursts Magazine
Integrated Pest Management Innovation Lab Director Rangaswamy ‘Muni’ Muniappan was profiled in May’s edition of Outbursts, a monthly publication of Outreach and International Affairs.

April 10, 2014
Seeding success in India turns coconut dust into gold
Coconut dust may not be fairy dust, but in southern India, the substance is creating healthy crops.

Februrary 6, 2014
Video: Scientists work to stop moth from destroying world’s tomato crop
In countries around the world, a tiny insect is wreaking havoc on farms and threatening to push up the price of tomatoes.

January 22, 2014
Halting crop destruction in India saves up to $309 million
Virginia Tech researchers who first discovered a devastating pest in India and devised a natural way to combat it have now put an economic value on their counterattack: up to $309 million the first year and more than $1 billion over 5 years.

November 20, 2013
University-led workshop in Ethiopia combats tomato leafminer
A workshop in Ethiopia later this month will gather scientists and others to fight an invasive pest that threatens tomato crops across the world.

August 5, 2013
Higher onion yields in India thanks to IPM
A holistic suite of environmentally-friendly agricultural techniques produce higher, healthier yields of onions in India, while still successfully combating pests and diseases, according to new research published in the Journal of Integrated Pest Management.

April 5, 2013
University awarded $1.59 million to pursue agricultural research in developing countries
Virginia Tech has won a total of $1.59 million for three federal contracts to continue agricultural research in Bangladesh, Indonesia, and Nepal. The awards represent a vote of confidence in development work that has been ongoing since 1993.

June 28, 2013
Godfrey Asea, former IPM IL graduate student, internationally recognized for maize program in Uganda
A former IPM IL graduate student, Godfrey Asea, is working to improve Uganda’s maize production systems and earning international recognition in the process.

April 15, 2012
IPM IL Technical Committee appoints two new members
The IPM IL management entity has appointed two new members to its technical committee: S. Mohankumar and Ramasamy Srinivasan. Their terms began this month (May 2012) and will end in September 2014.

October 15, 2011
Summer gender workshop in Ghana to reach 9,000 farmers
The West African Regional Program held a workshop in Tuobodom, Brong Ahafo Region, Ghana, on gender roles and pesticide use in tomato farming, July 19–22, 2011.

June 4, 2011
Tajik ambassador to the U.S. visits Michigan State, Central Asia IPM IL team
Tajikistan’s ambassador to the United States visited the Michigan State University campus as a guest of the Central Asia IPM IL project in late May 2011.

May 15, 2011
Workshop held on tomato IPM in the San José de Ocoa region of the Dominican Republic
A workshop on identification and management of pests and diseases was held on Wednesday April 30, 2011, in the province of San José de Ocoa, Dominican Republic.

April 1, 2010
IPM scientists combat pest of highly prized cacao in Ecuador
Rachel Melnick learned one thing about spending long days in Ecuadoran cacao orchards: do not work past 4:00 pm.

January 1, 2010
International Association for the Plant Protection Sciences (IAPPS) Blog Launched
IAPPS has announced that a new IAPPS Blog has been launched. The blog is designed to provide a service to the global IAPPS Membership.

December 1, 2009
USAID Mali mission awards $2.5 million to the IPM IL
The Integrated Pest Management Innovation Lab has won a $2.5 million associate award to manage a program that will promote agriculture-led growth, increase rural incomes and reduce hunger in Mali.