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PLANT HEALTH MANAGEMENT AT THE UNIVERSITY OF THE FREE STATE (UFS), SOUTH AFRICA
With the population growth in Sub-Saharan Africa expected to reach 80%
by 2020, together with changes in income, urbanization, lifestyle and
preferences, the future demand for food production in Africa will be
seriously challenged. Future research will need to focus on ways to
improve food security by employing agricultural systems that are
economically sustainable and environmentally sound. A good
understanding of the concept of “holistic plant health management” is
crucial to meeting this challenge and it is therefore imperative that
innovative crop protection and crop production strategies, with
particular emphasis on plant health, be adopted. Any plant health
management programme must be designed for the production of safe,
high-quality products and should use agricultural systems that are
scientifically, philosophically and socially attuned to basic
ecological principles.
The University of the Free State (UFS) in Bloemfontein, South Africa is
uniquely positioned to be a major role player in improving food
security in southern Africa. The Free State has the largest
percentage of arable land and is the largest producer in South Africa
of important staple foods such as wheat, maize, peanuts and
sunflower. Regarding the competitiveness of South Africa’s nine
provinces, the Free State is ranked first based on physical resources
alone.
The UFS has existing and proven expertise in at least ten disciplines
of relevance to crop production and crop protection which are
coordinated by the Centre for Plant Health Management (CePHMa) in the
Department of Plant Sciences. The vision of CePHMa is to champion
research and development in plant health management in South Africa (in
particular) and the rest of Africa (in general). Its mission is
to establish a sound diagnostic, research and consultation base in
plant health management through coordination of a wide spectrum of
expertise and will ultimately serve agricultural, forestry and natural
environments.
In striving to achieve this, CePHMa is bound by the following specific objectives:
- To stimulate, establish and expand expertise in
holistic plant health management at the UFS on the highest level.
- To promote and coordinate multi-disciplinary
research and development in plant health management at the UFS.
- To coordinate, present and promote multi-disciplinary training in plant health management.
- To initiate and implement multidisciplinary
co-operative agreements, determined by the needs of individuals,
communities, organizations and industries, under the auspices of the
Centre. Such projects will inevitably be research driven, but will also
provide a professional diagnostic and advisory service in plant health
management to clients.
- To place South Africa in the international arena
with regard to proactive, holistic plant health management.
The UFS is the leading institution in Africa in terms of new crop
development and manages three research programmes that concentrate on
new crops, viz. the New Crop Pathology Programme, New Crop Development
Programme and the Insects on New Crops Programme under the auspices of
CePHMa. Other applied research programmes that are unique to the
UFS are genetic resistance to rust diseases of small grain crops and
sustainable integrated disease management of field crops.
Increasing concerns about the environment, air pollution, pesticide use
and food safety, the production of genetically modified food and fibre,
organic agriculture and crop biosecurity have increased the need for
professionals who are trained in Plant Health Management and CePHMa is
at the forefront in southern Africa in satisfying this need.
South Africa, compared to its peers in respect of GDP per capita, has
severe shortcomings with regard to training in agriculture.
In order to make up this shortfall, the number of graduates in
agriculture will have to increase five fold, i.e. from 0.11 to 0.56 per
10 000 of the population by the year 2012; an average of 8.5% per year.
Teaching programs at the UFS are currently offered in Botany, Genetics,
and Entomology with additional modules available in Plant Health
Management, Plant Breeding and Plant Pathology. The relevance and
quality of the UFS’s teaching program is reflected in the fact that
students from Ethiopia, Eritrea, Malawi, Uganda, Zambia, Ghana,
Tanzania, Cameroon, Angola, Mozambique and Lesotho have already been
trained or are in the process of being trained in the Department of
Plant Sciences. Various short courses are offered on an ad hoc
basis as required by relevant organizations or private
individuals. With the availability of additional resources this
function could be expanded significantly to accommodate the needs of
other SADC countries as well.
Plant Health Management was introduced as a 3-year B.Sc.-degree in the
2005 curriculum and incorporates the disciplines of plant pathology,
entomology, botany and plant breeding. On completion of this
course the learner will have a basic knowledge of environmental factors
that influence the health of plants with emphasis on the underlying
ecological principles that are involved. With this unique
holistic approach as background, the learner will be suitably qualified
for employment in environmental or agricultural concerns where the
maintenance or cultivation of healthy plants is of cardinal
importance. On completion of the third year and depending on the
major subjects chosen in the second year, the learner can proceed with
postgraduate studies in Plant Pathology, Botany, Entomology or Genetics
up to Ph.D. level.
CePHMa houses a Plant Disease Diagnostic Laboratory and an Insect
Identification Service (IIS) which renders and important extension
service to the agricultural and forestry chemical industry, private
seed companies, the Agricultural Research Council (ARC) and various
non-governmental organizations. Current human and infrastructural
resources of CePHMa are severely strained by a significant increase in
the demand for information from the public at large.
Scientists from CePHMa have forged partnerships/links with numerous
national and internal institutions including the ARC, various commodity
trusts, seed, pesticide and agricultural chemical companies, in
addition to various overseas universities. Students can take part
in exchange agreements with these universities and acquire credit for
courses completed at these universities. Similarly, CePHMa has
also been approached by a conglomerate of US universities to serve as a
training centre for African students specializing in agricultural
sciences. The UFS has thus clearly shown its potential to address
the requirements of the sub-continent of Africa in terms of food
security. If this potential is fully realized, CePHMa can become
the leader in plant health management on the African continent.
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