Prof. Ukwela raises alarm, says pest invades crop
|By Linus Egwu
As the Federal Government makes plan to ensure food security for the nation, an expert on crop entomology at the Department of Agronomy, Faculty of Agriculture of the Federal University of Lafia (FULafia), Professor Monday U. Ukwela, has warned that a destructive mango mealybugs pest has invaded Nigeria.
According to Ukwela, the mango mealybugs, scientifically called “Rastrococcus invadens,” could reproduce an offspring capable of causing significant damageto the “physiology of mango seedlings.”
Ukwela said that although a nationwide survey was carried out by some scholars, their survey discovered that the destructive pest was only found in the southern part of the country.
He said that the pest, which has the ability to survive in different ecological zones, found a home in the southern area because of humidity.
Ukwela raised the food alarm in his professorial inaugural lecture, where he dealt, extensively, with the implications of insects and closely related organisms.
The lecture also contained the “life-cycles, types, forms, activities and how to control or eradicate the harmful ones (pests) or protect the more beneficial ones.”
Ukwela’s inaugural lecture, titled: “Insects: Diversity, Natural and Strategic War” was held at the Mallam Adamu Adamu twin lecture hall at the Permanent Site Campus of the University.
The entomologist said that “the impact of a few abiotic factors like wind, rainfall, relative humidity and temperature on Rastrococcus invadens population was observed at both dry and rainy seasons.”
He observed that wind and rainfall were the most important factors that influenced the pest on mango.
Ukwela advised that the government should consider the use of an effective biological control of mango mealybugs, using parasitoids to control the situation.
Earlier, in his address, the chairman of the occasion and Vice-Chancellor, Federal University of Lafia (FULafia), Professor Shehu Abdul Rahman, described Ukwela “as a good example of outstanding scholar whose numerous academic works attest to his contributions to knowledge in the area of agriculture and beyond.”
The vice-chancellor, while congratulating Ukwela and his family, underscored the importance of professorial inaugural lecture, saying that “the tradition establishes new collaborations and strengthens existing relationships.”
In his remarks, the Vice-Chancellor of Joseph Sarwuan Tarka University, Makurdi, Benue State, Professor Issac Nathaniel Itodo, congratulated Ukwela for achieving this great milestone.
He thanked Abdul Rahman organising the inaugural lecture, urging the staff and students of FULafia to give Ukwela the support he needed in his academic endeavours.
Welcoming participants to the occasion, Prof. Josephine Odey, the Chairperson, Inaugural Lecture Committee of the University, said that Ukwela’s contributions to knowledge has not only added value to staff and students of the University but to farmers in Nigeria as well as the field of agriculture in Nigeria and beyond.
She thanked the vice-chancellor for supporting the committee, commending guests for gracing the occasion.
The occasion was marked with presentation of merit certificate, plaque and gift to Ukwela and a souvenir to Itodo all by Abdul Rahman.
