In Limpopo, South Africa, quarantine measures have been put in place in production and residential areas affected by the Invader fruit fly, Bactrocera invadens, following new detections, AllAfrica.com has reported.
Producers have been requested to bury all fruit that has dropped and will not be used, or alternatively to place the fruit in a tightly sealed rubbish bag to prevent the pest's escape.
The measures are designed to contain and facilitate the eradication of the pest, which causes severe damage to its host plants, including mangoes, citrus, guava, papaya and bananas, as well as vegetables such as peppers, pumpkins and tomatoes.
The detections were reported in Limpopo's Vhembe district, with the area under quarantine stretching from the Soutpansberg mountain range to the Levuhu River.
Eradication has already proved successful in many areas in Limpopo and Mpumalanga following several other detections earlier this year, but the danger remains that the pest could spread to other production areas should the measures fail, leading to production losses for small-scale farmers and costly trade restrictions and the loss of international markets for exporters.
Since its first detection in Kenya in 2003, the pest has spread across sub-Saharan Africa and is now present in Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Malawi, Zambia, Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia and Zimbabwe.
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