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ARC wants Southern Africa fruit fly free in 3 years

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    R350 grant puts sisters on agri path to success

    The uMngeni Municipality in KwaZulu-Natal is supporting local farmers through a new agricultural unit that has been established in the municipality. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

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ARC wants Southern Africa fruit fly free in 3 years

by Sinesipho Tom
29th September 2020
in News
Reading Time: 4 mins read
A A
ARC wants Southern Africa fruit fly free in 3 years

The Mediterranean fruit fly infests over 260 different fruits, flowers, vegetables and even nuts, almost all grown in South Africa. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

The Agricultural Research Council (ARC), has launched a three-year “F3 Fruit Fly Free” project that aims to relieve the country from the fruit fly.  

Sub-Saharan Africa has suffered tremendous financial losses due to fruit flies. The most destructive of the insects, the Mediterranean fruit fly or medfly, infests over 260 different fruits, flowers, vegetables and even nuts, almost all grown in South Africa.  

The medfly larvae hatch from eggs laid just under the surface of the fruit skin and feed while tunneling towards the centre of the fruit. This further exposes the fruit to secondary infestation by pests and pathogens, often leading to rotten, pulpy fruit. This leads to huge economic losses because the fruit can’t be sold.

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According to a press release by ARC, the F3 project will target the Oriental (Bactrocera dorsalis), the Mediterranean (Ceratitis capitate) and the melon fruit fly (Zeugodacus cucurbitae). 

One of the primary objectives of the project is to develop a regionally harmonised structure for the development and implementation of recognised pest-free areas and areas of low pest prevalence for regulated pests of commercial fruit commodities in Southern Africa (South Africa and Mozambique).  

The project follows the directives of relevant international standards for phytosanitary measures as approved by the International Plant Protection Convention. It is a collaboration between various research institutions and government departments.  

Other partners involved in the project include the departments of agriculture, land reform and rural development and its Mozambican counterpart, Citrus Research International, Stellenbosch University, Eduardo Mondlane University (Mozambique) and the Royal Museum for Central Africa (Belgium). 

Dr Tertia Grove, a senior researcher at the tropical and subtropical crops division, explains the ARC’s role in the project. “The ARC has been appointed co-ordinator of this significant project because of its capacity built over 100 years as well as strong relations with other research partners globally.”
 
The project is funded by the World Trade Organization (WTO) standards and trade development facility. It supports countries in building capacity to implement international sanitary and phytosanitary standards, guidelines and recommendations. 
 
Other objectives of the project include:
 
• Establishing pest-free areas in South Africa and Mozambique for target fruit fly species.
 
• Gathering scientific evidence for low levels of specified fruit fly prevalence for target fruit fly pests.
 
• Establishing areas of low pest prevalence in South Africa and Mozambique for target fruit fly species.
 
• Creating an operational database platform for determination of fruit fly status in different regions in South Africa and Mozambique.
 
• Creating an identification protocol and service for rapid and unambiguous recognition of target fruit fly pests and related taxa.
 
• Creating a financial model for maintenance of pest-free areas and areas of low pest prevalence for target fruit fly pests. 

 According to the Dr Shadrack Moephuli, CEO of the ARC, “Through various research and development programmes over the years, the ARC has been instrumental in improving South Africa’s agricultural productivity and global competitiveness while increasing the nation’s food security, reducing hunger and improving food and nutrition.”  

READ MORE: Respected scientist wins the hearts of farmers and Mother Nature

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Tags: Agricultural Research Council (ARC)Citrus Research InternationalDepartment of AgricultureDr Shadrack MoephuliDr Tertia GroveEduardo Mondlane University (Mozambique)F3 Fruit Fly Free projectLand Reform and Rural DevelopmentMediterranean (Ceratitis capitate)melon fruit fly (Zeugodacus cucurbitae)MozambiqueOriental (Bactrocera dorsalis)Royal Museum for Central Africa (Belgium)South AfricaSouthern AfricaStellenbosch UniversityWorld Trade Organization (WTO)
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Sinesipho Tom

Sinesipho Tom

Sinesipho Tom is an audience engagement journalist at Food for Mzansi. Before joining the team, she worked in financial and business news at Media24. She has an appetite for news reporting and has written articles for Business Insider, Fin24 and Parent 24. If you could describe Sinesipho in a sentence you would say that she is a small-town girl with big, big dreams.

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This week's Agri calendar features a wine and food event, an online discussion on biofilms the dairy industry and another on cutting fertiliser costs. There's also a livestock auction to look out for and an online event about soil. Include your event to the calendar by emailing info@foodformzansi.com. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi
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Andile Matukane, founder of Farmers Choice and Devroll Legodi, founder of Devroll Herbs, joined a recent session of Food For Mzansi’s Gather To Grow on twitter o discuss the cultivation of spring onions in Mzansi. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

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R350 grant puts sisters on agri path to success

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