Pierre Martin1,2,3, Mor Tall Sall4, Urbain Ntab4, Bernard Yana4, Anouchka Bardot1,2 and François-Régis Goebel1,2
1AIDA, CIRAD, Montpellier, France; pierre.martin@cirad.fr
2AIDA, CIRAD, Montpellier University, Montpellier, France
3UMMISCO, Dakar, Senegal
4CSS, Richard Toll, Senegal
The Senegal River Delta Valley is characterized by flat ground, high daily temperatures, and a short rainy season. In Richard Toll, the Compagnie Sucrière du Sénégal (CSS) grows 12,000 ha of sugarcane but suffers with variability of pest infestation among years. In this area, wherever the soil surface is moist enough, it is favourable to the development of natural vegetation. This dynamic led to a question as to whether this spontaneous natural vegetation can host key pests such as the sugarcane borer, Eldana saccharina Walker. Potential host plant species were first listed using the Decision Support System DECIPEST. Then, sites with a sufficient density of potential host plants were identified using drone images taken at a 100-m height over the farmland and its edges at three periods of the year (middle of the dry season, beginning of the rainy season, end of the rainy season). Preliminary results suggest that a potential E. saccharina host at CSS is Typha domingensis located in the water collection drains and the water tanks.