How are sexually-confused insects helping small farmers?

[The Dragon Master]

Sexual confusion does not seem like the most obvious solution to the problem of pest control.



In India, where agriculture accounts for a fifth of one of the world's fastest-growing economies, the question of how to solve the problem of insects destroying a farm's main source of income has resulted in aggressive use of chemicals.



Research in 2008 suggested that farmers in the Punjab - many of whom were spraying their crops every day rather than the recommended couple of times a season - were even becoming more susceptible to cancer.



The solution of one British start-up, Exosect, has been unorthodox, to say the least.



'Surprised'



Philip Howse was looking at different ways of controlling insects while at Southampton University.



He was particularly interested in mimicking the techniques of the carnivorous pitcher plant.



What if you could somehow persuade loose particles to stick to the adhesive pads on the feet of a fly? Then you could render it helpless, just as the pitcher plants do, and cause it to fall into a trap from which it cannot escape, he says.



Mr Howse realised that you could use the same principles of an electrostatic charge to stick what he wanted to the insects.



His 'eureka' moment is the technology behind Exosect, who have pioneered the use of a charged wax powder soaked in female pheromones, which is then attached to the males.



Sprayed in a fog over the crops, it makes the male pests go after other males. I'm sure they found it a bit of a surprise when it was first used, says Exosect chief executive Martin Brown.



Exosect's electrostatic powder is now being used in the Punjab and west Bengal in India to fight rice stem borers.



We can control them without the use of insecticides, so we could also avoid knock-on effects, like contaminating the water supply, Mr Brown says.



In addition to India, Exosect's methods are used commercially in apple orchards in England and vineyards in Argentina.



The resulting drop in insect population means that farms have to use about 25 units of pesticides in a hectare, as opposed to up to 1,000 units using traditional means.



Rest of article and link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-11694374