Fruit fly can be minimised through proper sanitation in mango orchards and annihilation of fruit fallen under the trees by 80 percent because the rotten fallen mango fruit is the rearing media for fruit fly, said Dr Ghulam Jilani, Chief Scientific Officer, NARC Islamabad.
Dr Jilani is also programme leader of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) of fruit fly in mango orchards, who visited the affected mango orchards along with Senior Scientific Officer Rafi Masih and Senior Scientific Officer IPM, Attaullah on the request of Mango Growers Association on Thursday.
They visited the site of mango orchard in Tehsil Kabirwala, Khanewal district where efforts are underway to convert large mango cluster area as fruit fly-free zone.
The scientists addressed the contractors and managers of surrounding mango orchards and acquainted them with different methodology to curtail fruit fly infestation in mango orchards. The gathering was later shown use of pheromone traps and fly baits.
Addressing the gathering on this occasion, Mango Growers Association Pakistan President, Syed Zahid Hussain Gardezi appreciated the efforts of agriculture scientists and thanked them for their direct interaction with the people in mango trade.
He advised the mango contractors and managers of various mango farms present there to adopt IPM programme to make Pakistan mango acceptable in global markets where fruit fly infested fruit is detested. He said that with close interaction amongst each other and adoption of IPM programme in letter and spirit farmers would be able to proclaim wide mango growing region as fruit fly free zone.
Gardezi said that need of adopting IPM programme had become mandatory because this year the farmers might face higher population of fruit fly infestation, as many mango growers failed to remove all the fallen fruit in the orchard due to innumerable dust storms in the mango region from beneath the canopies of mango trees.
Large number of mango contractors and orchard managers attended the programme.