 About
Plant Health
Plant Health
The Plant Health thematic group aims to contribute to Objective 1 of LRD’s Strategic Plan: Sustainable management of integrated forest and agricultural systems, through participatory development of sustainable management systems for plant pests including insects, pathogens and weeds. The Outputs from Objective 1 that the Plant Health team contributes to are:
Output 1.2: Sustainable forestry and agriculture management and production practices developed and promoted
 Pest management is a critical element in sustainable forestry and agriculture. The fragile nature of PICTs and the desire of many to go organic agriculture indicate a critical need for environmentally friendly options including IPM, biological control and cultural control methods. Where there are no other options, the Plant Health team works with stakeholders to choose pesticides that are least harmful to the environment and humans or to minimise use of other pesticides.
Recent examples of pest management strategies developed with stakeholders:
 Biological control using a small weevil of water hyacinth in Vanuatu, a weed strangling the waterways.
Control of yam anthracnose (Glomerella cingulata/Colletotrichum gloeosporioides) through use of a plant resistance activator, compost tea (phylloplane biocontrol) and other new fungicides.
Development of cultural control methods for kava dieback that farmers will use. Use of modern biotechnology allowed Plant Health and Fiji government scientists to identify localised distribution of the virus in the kava plants which led to the development of selective rogueing techniques.
Biological control
of mile-a-minute weed (Mikania micrantha) in Fiji and
Papua New Guinea
Use of Plant Derived Pesticides (PDPs) for farmers with limited access to alternatives (e.g. financially or geographically).
Output 1.5: National and regional capacity to manage animal and plant invasive species, pests and diseases strengthened
The Plant Health team provides technical support to PICTs for the development of national contingency plans for specific pests based on the national Emergency Response Plans. In the event of an incursion of a pest into a country, the Plant Health group provides technical expertise and assists in assessing the potential for eradication or, in the event that the pest is established, develops options for management with the stakeholders. Some recent incursions in which the PH team provided this support was in an eradication of papaya ringspot virus in the Cook Islands and a delimiting survey and subsequent public awareness for citrus Huanglongbing (greening) disease after it crossed the border into Papua New Guinea. Various weed eradications including African Tulip (Spathodea campanulata) in Palau, Yap and Chuuk are ongoing.
Training and development of training materials are also undertaken by the Plant Health team to strengthen plant protection capacity in the region.
The team also provides technical backstopping to PICTs and the Biosecurity and Trade Facilitation thematic group in achieving Objective 2 of LRD’s Strategic Plan: Improved biosecurity and trade facilitation. The Outputs from Objective 2 that the Plant Health team contribute to are:
Output 2.1: National capacity to comply
 with international and regional standards related to trade strengthened
The Plant Health team provides information and advice to countries in the practical fulfilment of international obligations. A few examples of this support include providing information on choices for organic pest management that will not breach organic standards, mentoring in how to conduct delimiting surveys, and plant virus indexing for safe movement of plant genetic resources.
Output 2.3: Sustainable and efficient post-harvest technologies developed and promoted
This is a relatively new area for the Plant Health team apart from research and development of high temperature forced air for various commodities. The team will be investigating uses of hot water to satisfy import conditions for commodities including taro and cut flowers starting 2005. A participatory activity investigating the steps in the commodity pathway from improving health of papaya plants and the soil they are grown in through to handling and postharvest treatments could to contribute to postharvest quality is starting in the Cook Islands this year.
Output 2.4: Improved information on plant and animal health status in PICTs
A major part of the work of the Plant Health team is supporting countries in plant pest diagnosis and national plant pest surveys. This is a service provided to PICTs and is on-going.
For more information, please
contact Warea Orapa,Plant
Health Coordinator.
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