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Los Huistas Region in Northwestern Guatemala Declared Mediterranean Fruit Fly Free Area. The Mediterranean fruit fly was eradicated from Los Huistas region, Guatemala. This 220 000 hectares (2 200 km2) area is located in the northwestern border with Mexico. The pest was eradicated using sterile males of the Vienna-7 genetic sexing strain developed at the FAO/IAEA Agriculture and Biotechnology Laboratories, and produced in the world's largest insect mass rearing facility at El Pino, Guatemala. This achievement will allow the export of fresh fruit and vegetables grown in the region. Full Story »
Costa Rica exports "gourmet" tomato to the international market based on a successful technical cooperation projects supported by the IAEA and FAO. Costa Rica has now joined Nicaragua, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras as Member States that have build their success as exporters of vegetables to lucrative markets around FAO/IAEA pest control cooperation projects. Full Story »
Review of the Ethiopian Tsetse Eradication Project STEP. An IAEA delegation, headed by Deputy Director General Mr. Werner Burkart, discussed with Ethiopian partners in Addis Ababa, 20 - 23 July 2010, the status of the IAEA- and FAO-supported Southern rift valley Tsetse Eradication Project (STEP). The project intends to expand the tsetse suppression operations to some 25 000 km² in the next 1-2 years. It is anticipated that, once developed for large scale application in Ethiopia, the sterile insect technique (SIT) will complement the area-wide and integrated pest management efforts". Full Story »
Significant damage was avoided to the ecosystem based on prickly pear in Mexico thanks to the eradication of Cactus Moth outbreaks from Caribbean islands of Mexico. The cactus moth (Cactoblastis cactorum) is a great threat to important Opuntia crops of Mexico. Opuntia cacti have a great economic, environmental and cultural significance to the people of Mexico. Full Story »
Eradication of Cactus Moth Outbreaks from Isla Contoy, Mexico
The Mexican Government has officially announced that the Cactus Moth Cactoblastis cactorum, a serious threat to all prickly pear cactus species, has been eradicated from the island of Contoy, in the Mexican Caribbean.
Full Story »
Balkan States Consider Sterile Insect Technique Against Mediterranean Fruit Fly
Fruit farmers in Southern Europe have been struggling for decades in a losing battle against the Mediterranean fruit fly, or Medfly, which is one of the world´s most destructive farm pests, since it lays its eggs in fruit and vegetables.
Full Story »
Eradication of Cactus Moth Outbreaks from Caribbean islands of Mexico
The Mexican Government has officially announced that the Cactus Moth Cactoblastis cactorum, a serious threat to all prickly pear cactus species, has been eradicated from the island of Mujeres and island of Contoy, in the Mexican Caribbean, two
years after the pest was first detected. Full Story »
No Love for Deadly Mosquitoes
In steamy sites ranging from Sudan to Tahiti, Mozambique to the United States, researchers are studying the sex life of the male mosquito - in order to halt reproduction.Why? Mosquitoes can be deadly
carriers of disease, including malaria and yellow fever. Full Story »
Screw Worm Outbreak in Yemen
An outbreak of the insidious ´screw worm´ fly in Yemen, is threatening livelihoods, in a country where rearing livestock is a traditional way of life. In recent weeks, a Ministerial delegation was at the IAEA in Vienna, Austria, to turn to the international community for emergency assistance to
fight the deadly pest. Full Story »
Tacna and Moquegua Regions in Southern Peru Declared Fruit Fly Free Areas
The Animal and Plant Health Service (SENASA) of Peru, a decentralized public institution of the Ministry of Agriculture, has informed that Peru, after more than 20 years of dedicated efforts has achieved the eradication of very destructive horticultural fruit fly pests.
Full Story »
The Middle East's Fruitful Valley
[...] Scientists, politicians, and farmers from Israel, Jordan, and the Palestinian Authority are winning a long and largely invisible fight against the odds. Their
common foe: the Mediterranean fruit fly, or Medfly, one of the world's most destructive agricultural pests.
Full Story »
Sterile Insect Technique Success in the Middle East Attracts International Media Attention
Under IAEA Technical Cooperation projects in Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian Authority, with additional extrabudgetary support from USAID's Middle East Regional
Cooperation (MERC) funds, FAO/IAEA technology was transferred for area-wide Mediterranean fruit fly control, including the use of the environment-friendly Sterile Insect Technique (SIT).
Full Story »
Educational Resources for Agricultural Insect Pest Control - The ABC´s of S-I-T
A technology known simply as SIT has played an instrumental role over the past four decades in helping countries to protect their agricultural economies
by controlling pests that threaten harvests. Today, more and more countries are interested in applying SIT, the sterile insect technique, as part of their food,
health and animal protection campaigns. Full Story »
Science, Sex, Superflies - The Sterile Insect Technique (SIT)
A spin-off of nuclear science and technology has changed the dynamics of a complex mating game. Along the way, it has spawned success stories - some small, some large
- from Asia to Africa to the Americas during the IAEA´s first half century. Full Story »
World´s Second Biggest Sterile Insect Mass Production Facility Opens in Valencia for Medfly Suppression
Spain´s citrus fruit stands to become more competitive in international markets, thanks to expanded use of a pest control technology rooted in applications of nuclear science.
A new pest-control facility - Europe´s first such large-scale plant - opened in Valencia in late April that experts say will cut the use of pesticides and protect citrus fruit from the
destructive Mediterranean fruit fly (Medfly). Full Story »
California´s Terminator
Californians have been battling the Medfly since Ronald Reagan governed the golden state. The invasive pest is among the worst threats to the state´s multi-billion dollar fruit and agricultural industry.
Full Story »
Chile´s Leading Edge - South America´s Top Fruit Exporter Shows the Way
"The success we´ve had against fruit flies is the driving force for our fruit and vegetable industry. It shows the value of international cooperation and our bi-national control efforts with
Peru and collaboration with Argentina and other neighbours," [...].
Full Story »
Argentina Poised for Growth in Export Markets - IAEA & FAO Help Country Meet Fruit Trade Goal
Argentina is poised to expand its export markets for apples, pears and other fruit from the agricultural fields of Patagonia, citing the IAEA and UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
for helping the country achieve the goal. Full Story »
Fruit Flies Fall and Markets Grow - Nicaragua, South Africa Among Latest Countries Citing FAO/IAEA Support
In the Americas and South Africa, science is on a roll and fruit fly pests are dropping like... well... they´re dropping like flies. The results are higher quality products,
reduced insecticide use, and more profitable markets, especially to big consumers like the United States.
Full Story »
Campaign Launched to Eliminate Tsetse Fly, which has Turned Much of Africa into a Green Desert
A new campaign to control the deadly tsetse fly in Africa, parasitic carrier of sleeping sickness, has been launched by the Organization of African Unity (OAU).
Full Story »
A Programme for the Eradication of the New World Screwworm from North Africa - The New Screwworm Fly in Libya: A Review of its Introduction and Eradication
The two documents provide details on the planning and results of the New World Screwworm eradication programme in North Africa. The New World screwworm fly,
Cochliomyia hominivorax (Coquerel) became established in the Old World for the first time during 1988, in the Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya.
Full Story »
Defeating the Medfly
In December 1995, Chile's long battle with the Mediterranean fruit fly was officially declared over, marking a major victory for the country's farming community.
Full Story »