GSCAAS re-opened MARA-CABI Integrated Pest Management course online after Covid restrictions

From April 4-8th, 2022, the Graduate School of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (GSCAAS) together with MARA – CABI Joint Laboratory for Biosafety successfully organized the Integrated Pest Management (IPM) course. This was the sixth time the course was provided, but the first course in the 2021-2022 semester since Covid restriction. In total, 25 students and young scientists participated and received face-to-face training online.

The course was lectured on integrated pest management and biological pest control chaired by Dr. Stefan Toepfer, a master trainer of CABI who regularly teaches at the University of Neuchatel in Switzerland, MATE University Godollo in Hungary and national plant protection organizations such as Burundi under the global Plantwise programme. He is also a visiting professor at the Institute of Plant Protection, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, and a member of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of China MARA -CABI Beijing Joint Laboratory of Biosafety and its international branch, the MARA-CABI European Laboratory in Switzerland.

The main objective of the course was to update the students skills and knowledge in IPM with a focus on keeping pests below levels that cause economic damage. The course covered IPM topics like, prevention and monitoring of plant health problems such as insect pest, diseases and weeds, as well as their integrated management. About two-third of the course was presented as interactive lectures, and the remaining one-third was used for practice. The participants said they have learned a lot from the course.