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*ZANZIBAR PREPARES FOR THE POST-TSETSE ERA

*REPEAL OF RADIATION PROTECTION ACT

**The radiation protection act no 5 of 1983 is proposed to be repealed by a new act so as to accomodate new develipments in promotion and peaceful application of nuclear technology

**ZANZIBAR PREPARES FOR THE POST-TSETSE ERA

The tsetse fly appears to be a pest of the past on Zanzibars Unguja island. An independent group of experts recently confirmed that since September 1996 not a single wild fly has been caught in the array of traps set out in once heavily infested areas. The Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) the final weapon in this eradication effort was discontinued in December 1997, though monitoring for both the insects and the livestock disease (Nagana) they transmit will continue. With re-infestation very unlikely (the mainland is more than 30 kilometres away) the new focus is on increasing live-stock and crop production across the island.

Tanzanias efforts to control the tsetse began more than 30 years ago, when the Tsetse Trypanosomiasis Research Institute (TTRI) was set up in Tanga with support from the United States through the US Agency for International Development (USAID). Flies were reared on live animals, primarily for entomological research. But early efforts at control, on the mainland and in Zanzibar, had limited success. The first IAEA technical cooperation project began in 1984 to demonstrate the feasibility of mass-rearing techniques and concentrated on upgrading the TTRI facility and its equipment.

Mass rearing technology, developed by the IAEA and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAQ) at the Seibersdorf Laboratories in Austria, were transferred to TTRI through fellowships for scientists and technicians from Tanga and Zanzibar. During the past decade, 14 fellows spent 3-6 months each in Seibersdorf. They attended courses that were designed to enable them to employ their skills directly in the rearing facility in Tanga, as well as train others at home. By the early 1990s, TTRI had become the largest tsetse rearing facility in the world, enabling aerial releases of 50,000 sterile males per week and 100,000 at peak production during the last two years.

Suppression of the tsetse population in the wild began at ground level on Unguja during the late 1 980s, using insecticide-impregnated screens and traps. The campaign was supported by the FAQ and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The JAEA then launched a TC Model Project, with technical support from the Joint FAO/IAEA Division, in 1994 with the aim of complete eradication. Under the Model Project, aerial releases of sterilized males began over the most infested and inaccessible regions of southern Unguja and were extended later to the north.. With eradication completed, the Government of Zanzibar plans to use the land for integrated dairy farming and cropping systems, and to promote goat rearing in marginal areas, according to Dr. Kassim Juma, Commissioner of Agriculture and Livestock. Implementation will require technologies and skills that Zanzibar lacks. Isotopic and other nuclear techniques could be especially valuable in improving animal and crop productivity. In October 1997, a mission under the JAEA5 TC Country Programme Framework visited Tanzania to map out medium-term assistance for the whole country, paying special attention to Zanzibar’s needs. A new TC project is being developed for Zanzibar focused on crop and livestock production in the post-tsetse era. It will be important to develop agriculture systematically and avoid haphazard cultivation and over-grazing. Preliminary plans call for improvement of livestock through cross-breeding with more productive breeds from the mainland and abroad. The island’s native cattle tolerated tsetsespread disease. But they are small, yield little milk and meat, and are not very good for animal power. To build the herd, supplements will be developed using rice bran, coconut refuse, molasses, and poultry manure in locally manufactured feedstuffs called urea molasses multi-nutrient blocks.

Introduction of higher yielding varieties of rice and other grains is being planned. Systematic cultivation of nitrogen-producing leguminous trees such as glyricidia in the grasslands could fertilize pastures and could also be incorporated into cattle feedstock. High-quality grasses such as Napier and Guatemala, which already grow on the island and are well adapted, could be introduced into the pastureland. Working together with the IAEA, local officials are very hopeful that, with their island finally tsetse-free, Zanzibar has entered a new stage of agricultural advancement



SIT potential for other parts of Africa has been demonstrated on Zanzibar, where tsetse flies and trypanosomosis now appear to be problems of the past. But tsetse continue to threaten many regions of sub-Saharan Africa and to invade new agricultural areas. SIT is now being considered in a number of affected countries as a new tool in integrated area-wide tsetse eradication campaigns. One effort is already underway: the Ethiopian government and the JAEA are co-operating on the initial phase of a tsetse eradication program which is expected to evolve into a l0-year multi-million dollar activity aimed at eradicating tsetse flies from 25,000 km2 of potentially productive land in the Southern Rift Valley. Tsetse and trypanosomosis have had detrimental effects on farming in the region, and if tsetse can be eradicated, sizeable environmental and social advances will follow. SIT could be the key missing link for integrated tsetse and trypanosomosis management in Africa. It can contribute to improving agricultural product non and advance the battle against sleeping sickness. Over the longer term, SIT may be used, together with conventional methods to establish large geographically or biologically isolated tsetse free zones. As in Zanzibar today, this could clear the way for new activities to improve the lives and health of subsistence farmers across the continent.
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Now that Zanzibars livestock no longer suffer from Nagana, beef and dairy production can be expanded. Credit: D. Kinley/IAEA

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