Cape Town - The oriental fruit fly (OFF) detected in fruits in Grabouw could have dire consequences for food security, yield reduction and even job losses, if not properly controlled.
The Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries announced that the OFF, an exotic insect native to Asia and previously described from Africa as the invader fruit fly, was recently detected in Grabouw in a protein-baited trap.
The department said commercial fruit at threat included mangoes, guavas, citrus, papayas, apples, pears, apricots, peaches, cherries, grapes, passion fruit, peppers and tomatoes.
It said the pest could result in food insecurity, yield reduction, market restrictions and high production and post-harvest costs, if not effectively controlled.
The trap was serviced by FruitFly Africa (FFA), who immediately reported it to the department.
The department said a quarantine area of a 5km radius from the detection point was established after the first detection.
A delimiting survey was initiated this month and growers, packing and processing facilities of host material had been placed under quarantine, and eradication initiated in a 25km square area surrounding the detection point.
Hugh Campbell, Hortgro Science’s general manager, said Hortgro had been proactively preparing for the possibility of the occurrence of Bactrocera dorsalis or oriental fruit fly over the past decade in the Western Cape.
Hortgro Science’s Crop Programme had been conducting research since 2005 in an effort to prepare for such a possibility.
He said there were 1400 monitoring traps in the Elgin, Grabouw, Vyeboom and Villiersdorp region alone. and the traps were part of an area-wide monitoring and control initiative for fruit fly, and were managed by FFA.
“Immediately after the first OFF was caught, the national action plan was implemented
“A removal permit based on control and containment actions is now required to move the host material to a pest-free area.”
Campbell added that a delimiting survey was implemented by FFA to identify the potential spread of the fruit fly and weekly control measures had been implemented by the growers and FFA.
He said if no further flies were caught in any of the delimiting traps for a period of 12 weeks - which translates to three generations - the area would be considered as eradicated and the quarantine measures lifted.
According to Campbell, OFF, which was first discovered in Kenya in 2003, had established itself in Limpopo, Mpumalanga, North West and parts of KwaZulu-Natal. “It is an evasive fruit fly that can cause considerable damage.”