The Centre for Biological Control houses two mass-rearing facilities:

• The Waainek mass-rearing facility
• The Kariega/Uitenhage mass-rearing facility

What is mass-rearing?
The Centre for Biological Control cultivates invasive alien plants in controlled greenhouse environments. These plants are then used to culture the biological control agent specifically approved for control of that particular plant and eventually released at recognized and monitored invasive plant populations across South Africa. These biological control agents are available for free to researchers, implementation officers, reserve and water quality managers, farmers and concerned members of the public who want to get involved in preserving biodiversity and controlling invasive species in their local natural environments. Details of the insects which are reared at the two CBC facilities, and available for release, is shown in the two tables below. 

?All biological control agents mass-reared by the Centre for Biological Control are approved for safe release in South Africa by the regulatory bodies; the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and the Department of Environmental Affairs and conform to current legislation. The identification and control of invasive species is a continuous and ever evolving problem. Every year more species are identified as problematic and more effort is invested into finding new biological control agents. Thus the Centre for Biological Control also house a Quarantine Facility, to facilitate research into host-specificity and fecundity of potential biological control agents.

Mass-reared biological control agents
The two tables below show all the biological control agents that are mass-reared at the Center for Biological Control. The focus of the Waainek facility is on waterweeds, where as the facility in Kariega/Uitenhage rears biological control agents which can be released on various cacti species. If you would like to request any of these insects for release on your property, contact the relevant mass rearing managers.

Waterweeds: Waainek mass-rearing facility

Cacti Weeds: Kariega/Uitenhage mass-rearing facility

Last Modified: Mon, 13 Sep 2021 11:42:04 SAST