A tropical weaver ant commonly found in Africa, Asia and Australia could save up to 60 per cent of high-value crops in Africa that are continually under threat from fruit flies.
Dr Paul Van Mele, technology transfer specialist at the Africa Rice Centre in Benin, said fruit flies damage about 40 per cent of Africa’s annual mango production of two million tonnes.
Fruit flies and the fact that most small-scale farmers cannot afford pesticides are the reasons why the US has banned West African mango imports.
But if the weaver ant is taken on in Uganda, it will increase the country’s mango exports, and reduce the need for usage of expensive and inaccessible pesticides.
Van Mele has described the weaver ant as “a gift of nature”, and is optimistic that tropical ants will rescue Africa’s high-value crops, as they can be used by organic farmers.
Van Mele and colleagues have published a paper called “Effects of an African Weaver Ant, Oecophylla Ionginoda, in Controlling Mango Fruit Flies in Benin”.
The paper observes that while the weaver ant lives in Africa, their use in horticulture is still at the experimental stage in many countries.
Scientists say the ants have been proven effective for fruit fly control, and they can be used for controlling pests in most perennial crops, except coffee.
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