Yeboah Evaluates IPM Economic Impact in Mali

For Immediate Release
February 8, 2002

Greensboro, NC: Dr. Anthony Yeboah of North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University recently visited Mali as part of a project sponsored by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Along with researchers from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Purdue University, the University of Maryland-Eastern Shore and Montana State University, Yeboah is participating in a project focused on integrated pest management (IPM). The goals of the project are to develop improved IPM technologies and institutional changes that will reduce crop losses, increase farmer income, and reduce pesticide use, among others.

Integrated pest management focuses on long-term prevention of pests or their damage through a combination of techniques such as biological control, habitat manipulation, and minimal, if any, pesticide use.

Yeboah’s visit was designed to evaluate the economic feasibility of the IPM technologies that were applied on green beans during last cropping season. He visited three villages in the West African nation while there.

“We have found that most farmers can implement IPM technologies that would boost their incomes,” said Yeboah, interim chairperson of A&T’s Department of Agribusiness, Applied Economics and Agriscience Education. “Furthermore, they can do so with minimal initial investment.”

Yeboah joined the A&T faculty in 1980, and was promoted to professor in 1995. His research interests include sustainable agriculture, farming systems and farm information systems.

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For more information, please contact Dr. Anthony Yeboah, A&T Department of Agribusiness, Applied Economics and Agriscience Education, (336) 334-7943.