Dear Simon

You explained us: "The plague of psyllid louse that hit Asia in the late
80's and beyond, killing up to 100% of some stands, led to it falling out of favour."

Do you or somebody else in Indonesia know the origin of this psyllid
species. Is it originally from Asia/Indonesia or was it introduced from
elsewhere with planting material ? To my knowledge Leucena glauca is an
Africa species introduced to Asia.

I just want to point out that ICIPE in Nairobi is specialised in biological
control. As an example the Cassava mealy bug was a real thread in Tropical
Africa 20 years ago. Nowadays the problem has almost completely disappeared,
because the entomologist Hans Herren (now DG of ICIPE) initiated a project.
His crew found that the Cassava mealy bug was introduced from South America
to Africa and it?s natural enemies were lacking in Africa. They could
identify the specific parasitoid of this mealy bug species and released it
in Africa. It did such a good job, that the problem was solved in a short
time all over the continent. Another example I know from a scale pest on
mango in Western Africa that was eliminated in introducing the specific
parasitoid from India.

After your description Leucena is the preferred fodder crop in Asia, but
because of the psyllid problem, people have abandoned it and the alternative
fodder leguminous plants have many disadvantages.

I propose you to contact ICIPE-Kenya in Nairobi to start a project on this
topic. If it is possible to solve this problem with a good biocontrol
programme the fodder crop production can get highly improved on a large and
important area of the world.

Please directly contact ICIPE-Kenya:

Hans Herren: herren@africaonline.co.ke
or
Johann Baumgaertner: jbaumgaertner@icipe.org

Regards    Markus Bieri