Dr Maxwell Kelvin Billah, a Senior Lecturer of the Department of Animal Biology and Conservation Science, has been appointed to serve on a five-member Technical Advisory Committee of the SyRIMAO Project, a new project on Innovative Regional Control System of fruit flies in West Africa.

The appointment took effect from 8th March 2021.

The 11,435,000 Euro project being implemented under the auspices of the Regional Agency for Agriculture and Food (ARAA) of ECOWAS involves 15 countries and aims at strengthening prevention efforts and control of phytophagous fly infestations in the horticultural industry in order to improve the incomes of West African fruit and vegetable producers.

His appointment by the Steering Committee of the Project in December 2020 follows the role he played as Vice-Chair in an earlier project, namely, the Regional Plan to Control and Fight Fruit Flies in West Africa (PLMF), which existed from 2016 to 2019.

Dr Billah’s research interest is in the management of fruit flies. He is currently the Coordinator of the African Regional Postgraduate Programme in Insect Science (ARPPIS).