The National Health and Agricultural Food Quality Service (Senasa) and the Ministry of Agricultural Industry, will host the 9th, Western Hemisphere's, Meeting of the Fruit Flies Working Group, a plague that has decreased fruit production by 20% in the citrus region of northeastern Argentina.
"The fruit fly is a pest that causes direct damage in fruit production because the flies lay their eggs in the fruit and the larvae born there feed directly on the fruit," said the Director of Plant Health of Senasa, Wilda Ramirez.
"Effective control of this plague is achieved through national plans that, in the NEA, aim at reducing that 20% and at protecting the areas that are free of the presence of the fly so that they remain that way," said Ramirez.
"This work involves everybody. The producers and the consumers, because people must understand the risks of moving infected fruits across the Patagonian limits - a region that is free of the plague - as it could put at risk all of the economies of those provinces," he added.
The meeting will be held on Monday, October 17th, and continue until the following Friday, at the Buenos Aires Auditorium in Buenos Aires. In it, the participants will discuss the issues that the plague has caused at the continental level.
There are two species of fruit fly in Argentina, the American and the Mediterranean fruit flies. Their habitat extends over the entire national territory, except Patagonia, because its climate does not allow the insect to develop.
The meeting will be attended by 250 to 300 scientists, researchers, specialists in the management of fruit flies, representatives of national plant protection agencies (ONPF), and representatives of industries from different countries in the continent that will share their latest discoveries, identify needs, and promote new technologies to combat this pest.
"All the countries of America have control programs for the fruit fly. Its presence complicates marketing these products. That's why one of the major topics at the meeting will be quarantine and the post-harvest treatments to which the fruits are subjected," said the Director of Plant Health at Senasa, Wilda Ramirez.
