Project Document
Pest Management in the Pacific
2000–2004
[Fruit Fly Management Section]
Executive
Summary of PMP Project
Project
origin and design preparation
Problem analysis and strategies chosen
Project description
Implementation through SPC
Benefits, risks, justification
Component
2 - Fruit Fly Management
Justification
Main Achievements
Outputs and Indicative Activities:
1. Sustainable fruit fly management practices adopted
at farm level
2.
Enhanced public awareness of fruit flies and their quarantine status
3.
Improved and sustainable systems for national fruit fly surveillance
4.
Increased regional and national preparedness to respond to fruit fly
incursions
5.
Co-ordinated regional management of fruit flies
6.
Systems to fulfill negotiated trade protocols established nationally
Executive
Summary of Pest Management in the Pacific Project
Project
origin and design preparation
Australia and New Zealand,
through AusAID and NZODA respectively, have been supporting plant protection
and quarantine services in the Pacific Island region through their assistance
to the Plant Protection Service of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community
(SPC-PPS). All partners agreed to the design of a multi-component project that
would integrate a number of activities into a single framework and show the
linkages to projects supported by other donors.
Following initial informal
discussions, Dr Mick Lloyd, Head of SPC-PPS, presented a concept paper to
AusAID in May 1999 which broadly outlined the current project design. AusAID
and SPC subsequently agreed on a two-stage approach to the design of the
project to be known as Pest Management in the Pacific (PMP). The first stage
involved a one-week visit by Dr Robert Ferraris, Agricultural Adviser of
AusAID, to SPC Suva to work with Dr Lloyd and his team. The next stage
resulted in this Project Design Document (PDD), prepared by SPC’s design
team.
Following an appraisal of
the PDD, New Zealand decided that operational and administrative efficiencies
provided justification for including the plant protection project in the Cook
Islands, Niue and Tokelau as one component within the multi-component PMP.
Problem
analysis and strategies chosen
Global and regional trends in
plant protection and quarantine are creating challenges for which Pacific
Island communities are not prepared. The World Trade Organisation, for
example, drives the globalisation of quarantine standards that will govern
international trade. However, the capacity of Pacific Island countries and
territories (PICTs) to respond to such changes as well as to existing problems
remains limited. A number of pests (e.g. fruit flies and taro beetle)
have become established and threaten to spread in the region, affecting food
security, export opportunities and the environment.
Unless these challenges are
addressed, export markets may be lost and food security in Pacific Island
communities threatened. Negative socio-economic, environmental and public
health impacts can be expected.
The proposed project will
assist Pacific Island communities by:
- developing environmentally sustainable
management systems for priority pests;
- developing plant protection and quarantine
capacities in selected target countries in Micronesia; and
- assisting countries to develop alternatives
to methyl bromide treatment.
While the SPC accounting system
will clearly identify support from Australia and New Zealand during project
implementation, the project will become an integral part of the response by
SPC-PPS to the challenges the region faces.
Project
description
The goal of this project is to
contribute to the alleviation of poverty and to promote sustainability and
self-reliance in Pacific communities. Its purpose is to make a contribution to
the stabilisation of communities and the economic growth of Pacific Island
countries and territories through facilitating trade and protecting
agricultural industries and natural resources from pests and diseases.
The project will be managed
from SPC’s Suva office in Fiji. Project components or parts of components
may be located elsewhere in the region, as appropriate. The duration of the
project is four years.
Pest Management in the Pacific
comprises the following seven components:
Component 1 Project
Management Services (PMS), managing the PMP project.
Component 2 Fruit Fly
Management (FFM), formerly Regional Management of Fruit Flies Project,
operating in 22 Pacific Island countries and territories.
Component 3 Taro Beetle
Management (TBM), developing a sustainable taro beetle management
programme for infested countries of Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands,
Vanuatu, Fiji, New Caledonia and Kiribati.
Component 4 Methyl
Bromide Alternatives (MBA), minimising the impact in the Pacific of
phasing out of methyl bromide fumigation as quarantine treatment in 22
Pacific Island countries.
Component 5 Plant
Protection Micronesia (PPM), focusing on transfer of sustainable pest
management to farmers and on trade facilitation aspects of quarantine
services in Palau, Federated States of Micronesia, Marshall Islands
and Nauru.
Component 6 Information
and Extension Services (IES), providing materials and skills to
transfer technology from all components to farmers and quarantine
services.
Component 7 Plant
protection in Cook Islands, Niue and Tokelau (CNT), funded by NZODA,
providing services complementary to PPM in Micronesia and the EU-funded
Pacific Plant Protection Services (PPPS) in the rest of Polynesia.
Problem
analysis and strategies chosen
Global and regional trends in
plant protection and quarantine are creating challenges for which Pacific
Island communities are not prepared. The World Trade Organisation, for
example, drives the globalisation of quarantine standards that will govern
international trade. However, the capacity of Pacific Island countries and
territories (PICTs) to respond to such changes as well as to existing problems
remains limited. A number of pests (e.g. fruit flies and taro beetle)
have become established and threaten to spread in the region, affecting food
security, export opportunities and the environment.
Unless these challenges are
addressed, export markets may be lost and food security in Pacific Island
communities threatened. Negative socio-economic, environmental and public
health impacts can be expected.
The proposed project will
assist Pacific Island communities by:
- developing environmentally sustainable
management systems for priority pests;
- developing plant protection and quarantine
capacities in selected target countries in Micronesia; and
- assisting countries to develop alternatives
to methyl bromide treatment.
While the SPC accounting system
will clearly identify support from Australia and New Zealand during project
implementation, the project will become an integral part of the response by
SPC-PPS to the challenges the region faces.
Implementation
through SPC
By consolidating NZODA and
AusAID support for plant protection in the Pacific into one PMP project in the
SPC-Plant Protection Service, administrative and operational efficiencies will
be achieved.
This approach will partly
address the observations made in the OECD–DAC review of NZODA, in relation
to the high administrative costs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade
projects. It could also be seen as a response to Australia’s past aid
strategy which states that: ‘Australian aid for agricultural development in
Pacific Island countries has tended to be somewhat fragmentary, not
sufficiently outcomes-oriented and not always well integrated with national
programs and objectives’.
Recognising the critical role
regional organisations play in co-operation and capacity building, Australia
has expressed its intention to implement more projects in the Pacific through
regional organisations. It also recognises the efficiencies to be gained by
delivering programmes on a regional basis with streamlined administrative
mechanisms.
This efficiency factor is one
reason why Australia and New Zealand frequently select regional organisations
as implementing agencies for their projects. In addition, their governance
arrangements, which bring together donor and island country members to set
priorities, promote understanding and ownership of the programmes they
deliver.
Benefits,
risks, justification
By ensuring durable food
supplies of better quality and variety, stabilising island ecosystems and
facilitating trade, PMP will contribute to the goals of the aid programmes of
New Zealand and Australia. That is, it will assist in alleviating poverty, and
in promoting sustainability and self-reliance in Pacific communities.
Augmenting plant protection and
quarantine services among their Pacific neighbours is also in the interests of
Australia and New Zealand. The growing links of these countries with PICTs
through tourism and trade increase their own pest threats. Presently, the risk
is especially associated with countries that have major pest problems such as
Papua New Guinea, yet the risk over the longer term multiplies if such
problems are allowed to become established in other island countries. Papua
New Guinea has traditional ties with Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Fiji. After
PICTs conclude their regional agreement for trade liberalisation, increased
trade with Polynesian and Micronesian communities will also heighten the risk
of pest outbreaks in PICTs closer to New Zealand.
Pests do not respect national
borders. A Pacific pest problem is a problem for Australia and New Zealand,
and vice versa. Thus interdependence is integral to pest management in the
region. Maintaining a low pest status in PICTs is in the economic interests of
Australasia, as it helps Australia and New Zealand to maintain their own low
pest status along with their competitiveness in global trade.
The costs of the proposed
project are relatively modest. However, the opportunity costs of not
intervening in the sector are likely to be substantial in terms of lost export
markets, diminished food security and serious harm to the environment and
public health.
The risks associated with the
project are likely to be small. It will be implemented by SPC’s Plant
Protection Service which has demonstrated its capacity to manage large
projects effectively and efficiently. The Plant Protection Service is backed
by the resources of one of the largest regional organisations in the Pacific
Island region and will be able to use its extensive established network of
contacts throughout the region and beyond.
Component
2 - Fruit Fly Management
In the Pacific and worldwide,
it has long been recognised that fruit flies are a major pest to fresh fruits
and fleshy vegetables, whether grown for domestic consumption or for export.
They are thus a major constraint to food security and trade.
In September 1990, the Regional
Project on Fruit Fly Control Strategies began. It was funded as a one-year FAO
Technical Co-operation Project (TCP) with Fiji, Tonga, Samoa and the Cook
Islands. It was later extended to run until December 1993 and renamed the
Regional Project on the Enhancement of Production and Export of Fresh Fruits
and Vegetables in the South Pacific (short title: Regional Fruit Fly Project,
RFFP), with joint funding from UNDP, AusAID and another short-term TCP through
FAO. Also at this time, an ACIAR-funded project was launched; complementary to
RFFP, its primary aims were to identify and determine the distribution of
fruit flies in the South Pacific, and to assist with research into protein
bait sprays.
The overall aims of these
projects were to upgrade technical knowledge of how fruit flies affect
production and export of fresh fruits and vegetables, to reduce damage caused
by fruit flies, and to remove quarantine constraints on the export of produce
from PICTs.
The major achievements of the
regional fruit fly project are summarised in a later section. For convenience,
the achievements are organised under the following categories:
- information and technology transfer to
farmers;
- surveillance systems and emergency response
to incursions;
- regional management of fruit flies; and
- trade facilitation.
Expected outputs and associated
activities detailed below fall into the same four groups of ongoing activities
and new initiatives, as indicated under each output.
Based on the good progress
made, collaborating donors agreed to extend RFFP for a further three years,
through to April 1997. Three new countries were added to its scope: Vanuatu,
Solomon Islands and FSM. Its aims were also expanded; an objective now was to
transfer existing technologies to these countries, with particular emphasis on
control strategies for fruit flies to improve food security and protect the
environment.
From May 1997, the project was
extended for a further three years and to the remaining 15 PICTs. It was
renamed the Project on Regional Management of Fruit Flies in the Pacific
(RMFFP) and reoriented to minimise the impact of fruit flies on domestic fruit
production and consumption as well on facilitating trade. Another major change
in focus was to establish quarantine surveillance for exotic fruit flies in
every PICT and to significantly improve their capacity to respond quickly to
any incursion of exotic fruit flies.
By using the unspent balance of
funds, RMFFP is able to continue operations from April to December 2000, with
a level of donor funding that is lower than normal.
Justification
Fruit flies (family
Tephritidae) are a major group of insect pests worldwide, including in the
Pacific. Every PICT has at least one fruit fly species that seriously infests
edible fruit and fleshy vegetables.
PHALPS 13 and CROP rated fruit
flies as the pest group with the highest priority for attention from the Plant
Protection Service which was, in turn, rated as the service with the highest
priority in the SPC agriculture programme. In identifying new regional
agricultural priorities in October 1999, the PHALPS subcommittee gave very
high priority to control, surveillance and eradication of fruit flies.
As McGregor notes, Nauru is a
striking example of how the impact of fruit fly activities can spread well
beyond a single PICT. Because Nauru had no quarantine services until December
1999, several new pests, including melon fly and oriental fruit fly,
established themselves on the island, putting at risk countries which have
transport links with Nauru. However, when these fruit flies were eradicated in
1999, the outcome not only assisted domestic fresh fruit production, but also
removed a Pacific epicentre of these two very harmful pests. Similarly, the
establishment of oriental fruit fly in French Polynesia in 1996 has threatened
food security in the Cook Islands, while the spread of melon fly into
Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands threatens lucrative squash production in Vanuatu.
Family and cultural ties link
neighbouring PICTs. The pattern of distribution of fruit fly species also
follows such ties. For example, there is a well-documented threat of a ‘pest
continuum’ which may see the same species spread across Australia, Torres
Strait Islands, PNG and Solomon Islands. The magnitude of this threat is
considerable given that PNG has more than 200 species of fruit flies while
Solomon Islands has more than 48 species (including some of the most damaging
species in the world, e.g. Asian papaya fruit fly, melon fly). Elsewhere,
Rotuma and Wallis and Futuna have fruit fly species in common with Samoa,
Tonga and Fiji, reflecting the cultural ties among these countries.
It is critical that project
activities in PNG and Solomon Islands continue, in order to ensure the
quarantine security in countries to the north, east and south, including
Australia and New Zealand. Similarly, fruit fly activities need to be
maintained in the Micronesian countries which have trade and cultural links
with Hawai‘i and South East Asian countries such as the Philippines and
Republic of China, Taiwan.
So far, it may be claimed that
regionally the RMFFP has achieved a high rate of return economically, in terms
of expanding export earnings and protecting domestic food production. The
internal rate of return in 1999 (assessed benefits based on exports compared
with project costs) was a substantial 19 per cent. Over the long term there
remains a collective regional responsibility to support the regional
management of fruit fly pests in the Pacific, on the grounds that the benefits
and costs of such management extend far beyond national boundaries.
Main
Achievements
1. Information, public
awareness and technology transfer to farmers
Staff from most PICTs have received training
on fruit fly management during courses and attachments.
Farmers in several PICTs have adopted protein
bait spraying; bait has been locally produced from brewery waste yeast in
Tonga, and it soon will be in Vanuatu. Fruit bagging and crop sanitation was
demonstrated to farmers as an integrated (sustainable) pest management
strategy for the region.
Thirteen pest advisory leaflets on fruit flies
and their control have been published. A book on management of fruit flies
in the Pacific, containing 52 papers, was published as a result of a
regional symposium held in Fiji in 1996. A comprehensive socio-economic
study of benefits of fruit fly projects in the Pacific was compiled and
published.
A web site on fruit flies in the Pacific has
been developed at <http://www.pacifly.org>.
2. Surveillance and emergency
response to combat incursions
- A network of quarantine surveillance through
permanent fruit fly trapping sites has been established in 21 PICTs. In
addition, 13 PICTs regularly sample high-risk commodities that are
potential hosts for exotic pest fruit flies.
- An emergency response plan to cope with
incursions of exotic fruit flies has been finalised in Fiji and ERPs have
been developed to draft form in 12 other PICTs.
- Three of the four fruit fly species in Nauru
have been successfully eradicated through male annihilation and protein
bait spraying. Forty-one research and quarantine staff from 19 PICTs
received hands-on training in eradication methods, quarantine surveillance
and emergency response planning. Technical advice was provided to the
oriental fruit fly eradication programme in Tahiti, and to initiate a
similar programme in Palau with funding from the Palau Government and
USDA.
3. Sustained regional
management of fruit flies
- Adequate laboratory facilities for fruit fly
research have been established in 13 PICTs.
- Major input was given to handle the complex
fruit fly situation in Papua New Guinea, in collaboration with a sister
project funded by ACIAR and executed by the fruit fly team at Griffith
University, Brisbane.
- Three Steering Committee meetings were held
to consult PICTs on their views about RMFFP priorities to serve needs of
PICTs.
- RMFFP has been staffed and managed as a unit
within SPC-Plant Protection Service, allowing continuity and sustained
technical and administrative support.
4. Trade facilitation
- Trade in fresh fruit and vegetables has been
re-established, with a basis for negotiating growth in this trade.
- Laboratory colonies of fruit flies have been
established in 10 PICTs, for the development of post-harvest treatments of
commodities for export. Heat tolerance research has been completed for
nine species. As a result, four PICTs have high temperature forced air
units to allow export of treated host fruits, while eight can export
specific commodities to New Zealand on a protocol of non-host status.
- Accurate information on fruit fly
distribution, host plants and economic importance has been disseminated
throughout the Pacific region.
- Comprehensive status reports on the fruit
fly situation were completed for Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Federated
States of Micronesia and Fiji.
- Information on fruit fly trapping and host
fruit survey results have been recorded on databases.
Objective:
To minimise the impact of fruit
flies on food production and food security, trade and the environment, by
strengthening national and maintaining regional capacities in fruit fly
management
This component will establish
ongoing, integrated fruit fly programmes which cover public awareness,
quarantine surveillance, emergency response, training, extension and technical
support. The programmes will sit within a national public policy framework and
be partly resourced nationally. A regional framework will support national
programmes.
Outputs
and Indicative Activities:
1.
Sustainable fruit fly management practices adopted at farm level
In some countries, there has
been some success in transferring fruit fly management practices to extension
services and to farmers. The result has been that farmers have used an
integrated approach to suppress fruit fly populations in those countries. This
extension will be more effective with specialised information and extension
support from PMP-IES Component 6.
The losses caused by fruit fly
infestations will be minimised if farmers use an integrated approach to fruit
fly management, including regular on-farm monitoring and surveillance,
reporting of incidents, early harvesting, bagging, bait spraying and crop
hygiene. Thus by adopting protein bait sprays, which primarily attract female
fruit flies, farmers can reduce the total use of pesticides, in turn reducing
environmental pollution and increasing public health benefits from lower
residues in fruit and vegetables. Moreover, they can bag individual fruit or
bunches of fruit, using newspaper or readily available natural materials, so
that it is physically enclosed and excludes fruit flies. This practice, alone
or in combination with protein bait sprays, substantially reduces fruit fly
infestation of food.
Indicative activities
- In collaboration with government agricultural
advisers and NGOs, undertake on-farm demonstrations of bagging fruits using
paper bags and bags made from leaves, especially at the village level.
- Demonstrate integrated field control using
bagging, destruction of crop residues, protein bait sprays and early
harvesting, at the commercial level of production.
- In collaboration with breweries in PNG,
Vanuatu and Solomon Islands, modify brewery waste yeasts to produce usable,
inexpensive proteins for fruit fly baits.
- Undertake field trials and demonstrations of
new protein sources, assessing effectiveness in terms of the extent to which
damage caused by fruit flies is reduced.
- Assist with the commercialisation of
newly-formulated protein baits that are cheaper than imported proteins, with
special emphasis in PNG, Vanuatu and Solomon Islands.
2.
Enhanced public awareness of fruit flies and their quarantine status
Multimedia campaigns will
create public awareness of why quarantine is important in relation to fruit
flies and gain public co-operation that is essential to minimise new
incursions of fruit fly. Much has been achieved, but efforts must and will
continue to achieve greater commitment from national quarantine services.
Given that fruit fly is the highest priority pest in the region, fruit fly
awareness will spearhead the general quarantine awareness campaigns of
SPC-Plant Protection Services, as developed by PMP-IES Component 6.
Indicative
activities
- In collaboration with quarantine, research and
extension services in each PICT, develop or update national and regional
pest advisory leaflets on fruit flies, their management and the importance
of quarantine. Similarly, develop other public awareness materials, such as
videos, audiotapes for radio shows, and posters in collaboration with
PMP-IES Component 6.
3.
Improved and sustainable systems for national fruit fly surveillance
Much progress has been made in
the key area of national fruit fly surveillance. Only a minority of PICTs lack
a trap-based surveillance system. Still requiring stronger national commitment
are fruit surveys, which are essential but not widely practised. Achievement
of national commitment to comprehensive fruit fly surveillance is a high
priority. FFM will establish national trapping systems that are permanent and
effective, regular fruit surveys for infestation, and national capacity for
fruit fly identification that is resourced by national services.
Indicative activities
- Co-ordinate and provide advice on how PICT
government quarantine staff, extension and research staff, and NGOs maintain
permanent quarantine trapping sites, which will function as early warning
systems against the spread of damaging species, such as Asian papaya fruit
fly, oriental fruit fly and melon fly.
- Design a survey system for high-risk fruits
and vegetables as part of quarantine surveillance, and ensure that
governments and NGOs adopt it.
- In the quarantine surveillance system,
incorporate regular reviews of quarantine surveillance in all PICTs and
sustainable services for fruit fly identification through refresher training
workshops, held in conjunction with RTMPP and PPPO meetings.
- Monitor trapping and fruit survey programmes
in all PICTs via a regular reporting system to SPC using email or fax and
visiting selected countries.
4.
Increased regional and national preparedness to respond to fruit fly
incursions
The establishment of permanent
surveillance systems, together with a real commitment to them, is essential if
PICTs are to be prepared to eradicate or suppress fruit flies. All PICTs will
establish national emergency response plans (ERPs) that are regularly updated.
These arrangements will include regular simulation exercises.
Indicative activities
- Based on need, formulate or review ERPs, in
collaboration with national staff.
- Maintain centrally stocks of chemicals, lures,
traps, fibreboard blocks, and plastic containers for emergency use in the
event of an outbreak of an exotic fruit fly.
- Provide advice to PICTs on emergency responses
and eradication campaigns, where necessary.
5.
Co-ordinated regional management of fruit flies
Economies of scale and
interdependence of PICTs dictate that national fruit fly management be co-ordinated
regionally if production losses and trade are to be facilitated cost
effectively. Good progress has already been made in both national and regional
management. However, sustainability is the key requirement in this outcome.
Maintaining ownership through ongoing action of the Steering Committee is
important. Monitoring national laboratory facilities for their effectiveness
in essential fruit fly work is a priority. A continuing focus will be the
fruit fly situation in Papua New Guinea, which is logistically and
biologically complex but for which much has been achieved already. In
addition, SPC-Plant Protection Service will provide continuing support in
sustaining the regional oversight of fruit fly management.
More particularly, a regional
programme will provide a mechanism for technical support, co-ordination,
monitoring and consultation. This broad programme will help to maintain,
integrate and manage national fruit fly programmes. In terms of inputs under
the proposed project, the services of the Entomologist (Fruit Flies) would
need to be maintained until June 2002. The current Assistant Entomologist
(under the RMFFP) will become the Co-ordinator (Fruit Fly Management) from
January 2001. Financial and technical support will continue to be provided to
the three Junior Scientific Officers (JSOs) in PNG and the Scientific Officer
(SOs) in Solomon Islands until December 2002.
Indicative activities
- Provide technical support on fruit fly
management to PICTs.
- Continue annual consultative meetings of a
Steering Committee to advise FFM on programmes.
- Review FFM in November 2000 and annually
thereafter, to determine progress and levels of sustainability at national
and regional levels.
6.
Systems to fulfill negotiated trade protocols established nationally
Trade in the Pacific has been
facilitated by the fruit fly project activities. In particular, achievements
in national heat tolerance work and fruit fly distribution mapping have
contributed to this outcome. Building on these achievements, the work to
follow will extend to a wider range of potential exports and fruit fly
species, focusing on acceptance by destination countries of generic heat
treatments and non-host status criteria for trade. If the trade gains are to
be sustainable, it is necessary to develop national capacity in technical
submissions for trade negotiation.
PICTs will receive resources
and technical assistance to develop quarantine treatments for exportable
commodities. It will involve, for example, studies of heat tolerance of fruit
fly larvae and eggs in different commodities. Another useful area of study
will be non-host status (i.e. when none of the fruit flies on the national
list has the capacity to infest the commodity), as a non-host commodity poses
no quarantine risk to a trade destination country and so it will not require
quarantine treatment prior to export. There will also be assistance in making
technical submissions to potential importers – such as New Zealand,
Australia, Canada, the United States and Japan – in order to facilitate
trade in fresh commodities.
Indicative activities
- Establish and maintain laboratory colonies of
fruit fly species that have been previously unstudied yet are economically
important, in the laboratories in Kerevat, Bubia and Laloki in PNG.
- Study development rates of immature stages of
fruit fly in fruits and artificial diets.
- Complete data collection on heat tolerance of
eggs and larvae of about 10 species of fruit fly that are distributed for
study across the three laboratories at Kerevat, Bubia and Laloki.
- Maintain laboratory colonies of B. umbrosa and
D. solomonensis in Solomon Islands and B. frauenfeldi and B.
umbrosa in Palau, and study their development rates at immature stages
in fruits and in artificial diets.
- Generate data on heat tolerances of a range of
species and compile reports to submit to countries that are potential
importers.
- Assist in negotiations with Canada, New
Zealand, Australia, the United States and Japan on the development of
quarantine treatments for fresh commodities.
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