Fruit fly invades Botswana fruit produce

Pini Bothoko | Monday January 11, 2016 13:00

 

The director of crop production at the Ministry of Agriculture, Galeitsiwe Ramokapane, said this last Thursday when officiating at the end of the Asian fruit fly management project here.

The project was funded by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) to the tune of P1.7 million and lasted for 24 months. Ramokapane said in recent years farmers in various parts of the country have experienced huge financial losses in a bid to control the fly. He said that fruits and vegetables affected by the fruit flies were of low quality, which reduced their market value.

“In February 2010 fruit fly was detected in the Chobe District which shares borders with Zambia, Namibia and Zimbabwe. In July 2012, another fruit fly outbreak was recorded at Tuli Block and despite prevention efforts by the Ministry of Agriculture in May 2013 the pest was also detected in North East District,” said Ramokapane.

In addition he stated that farmers in the affected areas also experienced yield losses as a result of fruit fly.

The director said that the pests have not only affected areas where the pests have been located. “The indirect effects is that farmers in areas that do cannot export their produce once there is an outbreak.

Ramokapane said fruit flies have frustrated government efforts to improve fruit and vegetable production in the country in order to reduce heavy reliance on imports.

The director said because of Botswana’s proximity to countries such as Namibia, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Zimbabwe who are threatened by fruit flies, an agreement was made by Botswana and the four neighbours to request funding from FAO to control the pest. Botswana was in the process given P1.7 million by FAO.

Ramokapane said Bactrocera dorsalis, which was the most common type of fruit fly they identified around the country, has a wide range of both cultivated and wild hosts. According to him mango is the cultivated host and marula (sclerocarya birrea) is the preferred wild host.

He said that through the FAO programme both farmers and the MoA staff have been capacitated effectively to deal with fruit flies. He said the public has also been made aware of the devastating effects of the pests through Kgotla meetings and road campaigns.