History of Fruit Fly
Projects in the Pacific
1990 - 2000
Pacific Island Countries and Territories
(PICTs) recognise the significance of the presence of damaging fruit flies
to both production and export markets. Before the Regional Project was
established, requests were made to Australia, USA, New Zealand and Japan for
assistance to overcome the problem caused by fruit flies. Also, the
countries requested that international and regional organisations, such as
FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations), UNDP (United
Nations Development Program), SPC (South Pacific Commission, now referred to
as Secretariat of the Pacific Community), ACIAR (Australian Centre for
International Agriculture Research), USAID, and New Zealand groups, address
the problem.
A regional expert panel was convened by SPC
in Apia, Samoa in August, 1989, resulting in the establishment of the
Regional Fruit Fly Project. The PICTs that attended that meeting strongly
supported the concept of the project, as did the representatives from
Australia (ACIAR, Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service (AQIS)), USDA
(United States Department of Agriculture), and New Zealand Government (the
then Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, Ministry of
Agriculture and Fisheries Quality Management).
REGIONAL FRUIT FLY PROJECT: PHASE 1 (1990 -
1993)
The regional projects on fruit flies and their control in
the PICTs commenced under the auspices of FAO Technical Co-operation
Programme, TCP/RAS/0055 Project (September, 1990 - September 1991). This
initiative was supported by a second component of Phase I of the project
from January, 1991 to June 1993, namely RAS/90/004: "Regional Project
on Fruit Fly Control Strategies in the South Pacific". Funds for this
component were provided by the Australian Government (through the then AIDAB,
now known as AusAID), UNDP and SPC. These components operated in Cook
Islands, Fiji Islands, Tonga
and Samoa, under the execution
of SPC's Agriculture Programme and the implementation by FAO, in conjunction
with the Governments of each country.
The Objectives of Phase 1 of the RFFP were:
Developmental Objective:
To increase the level of production and quality of fresh fruits and fleshy
vegetables, leading to enhanced availability for local consumption,
increased exports and higher farmers' incomes.
Immediate Objectives:
- to upgrade the technical knowledge and understanding of
plant protection, quarantine and extension services staff of the impact
of fruit flies in the production of fresh fruits and fleshy vegetables
in the four countries identified;
- to develop new techniques for pre-harvest control of
fruit flies, leading to the dissemination of information on control
strategies and reduced levels of damage to fruits and fleshy vegetables
by these techniques; and
- to strengthen the capacity of quarantine services and
industry to overcome quarantine restrictions of fruits and fleshy
vegetables susceptible to fruit flies, imposed by importing countries.
RAS/90/004 was reviewed by external reviewers in July
1993, concurrently with a parallel regional project on fruit flies, funded
by ACIAR, that operated in the same four countries. The review report found
that the projects had made significant progress in understanding and
managing fruit flies in the project countries and that the technical
capacity of project countries had been improved considerably. The review
supported the need to consolidate the advances made in the project countries
and expand the projects activities into Federated States of Micronesia
(FSM), Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu.
To ensure continued impetus of the technical achievements
and to finalize a project document for the extension and expansion of
project activities, FAO, through TCP/RAS/2360, funded the continuation of
the project activities from July 1993 to January 1994.
Some Key reports and documents from Phase 1
are available online:
(Note
that the reports are in Portable Document File (PDF) format. They may be
downloaded and examined with Adobe Acrobat Reader program, which may be
obtained for free by contacting: http://www.adobe.com/ ):
REGIONAL FRUIT FLY PROJECT: PHASE 2 (1994 -
1997)
The Project Document for Phase II of the Regional Fruit
Fly Project (RFFP) was signed on 10 January, 1994. The Project operated from
January 1994 to April 1997, and covered the original four countries, plus Solomon
Islands, Vanuatu and Federated
States of Micronesia (FSM). The Project was known as Project RAS/93/300:
" Enhancement of Production and Export of Fresh Fruits by Controlling
Fruit Flies in the South Pacific ".
The project's funding operated under a cost-sharing
agreement between UNDP and the Australian Government, and additional funding
contribution from the New Zealand Government. As in Phase I, the project was
executed by SPC and implemented by FAO, in conjunction with the national
Governments.
The Objectives of Phase 2 of the RFFP were similar to
those of Phase 1, but extending coverage to the three additional countries.
During Phase II of the RFFP, important linkages with the
USAID's Commercial Agricultural Development (CAD) Project on quarantine
treatment development, two parallel projects funded by ACIAR on fruit fly
identifications, biological studies, fruit fly database in Solomon Islands,
Vanuatu and FSM, and on protein bait spray development in Tonga, and New
Zealand on quarantine training, enhanced the technical expertise available
to the RFFP, particularly in areas where expertise was not readily available
within the project or SPC. This expertise supplemented by technical
backstopping from FAO and USDA meant that the project had access to the best
fruit fly expertise in the world, usually with funding from sources other
than the RFFP.
The RFFP was reviewed in April 1995 and November 1996, and
there was strong support to continue with the Project.
Some key reports and documents from Phase 2
are available online:
(Note
that the reports are in Portable Document File (PDF) format. They may be
downloaded and examined with Adobe Acrobat Reader program, which may be
obtained for free by contacting: http://www.adobe.com/ ):
REGIONAL MANAGEMENT OF FRUIT FLIES IN THE
PACIFIC: PHASE 3
(1997 - 2000)
During Phase 3 of the Fruit Fly Project (April 1997 to
December 2000), the activities were expanded significantly to encompass all
22 PICTs. The Project was referred to as Project RAS/97/331 "Regional
Management of Fruit Flies in the Pacific" (RMFFP).
The main emphasis of the RMFFP was on establishing
quarantine surveillance in all PICTs, developing emergency response
preparedness and capacity both nationally and regionally, transferring
technology on control and quarantine treatments developed during earlier
phases of the project, and increasing substantially public awareness of the
dangers of accidental introduction of damaging exotic fruit flies through
non-commercial fruit movements. This Project built on achievements made
during previous phases of the project and parallel projects funded under
ACIAR.
The RMFFP benefited funding from AusAID and UNDP
cost-sharing, and additional funding from the New Zealand Government (NZODA).
The Objectives of Phase 3 (RMFFP) were:
Development Objective: To
strengthen the technical capacity of the Governments and Administrations and
the private sectors in PICTs to manage fruit flies regionally in order to
protect fresh fruit and vegetable production and export and to enhance
farmers' incomes, food security and rural employment.
Immediate Objectives:
- To overcome constraints on production and export of
fresh fruits and vegetables in FSM, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu caused
by the presence of damaging fruit fly species. (Continuation of
activities of RAS/93/300 in Solomon Islands and Vanuatu until at least
December, 1998, with technical back-stopping in FSM until commitment is
assessed in June, 1997.)
- To improve substantially the quarantine preparedness of
PICTs to cope with inevitable outbreaks of exotic fruit flies
regionally.
- To enhance the production and export of fresh fruits
and vegetables regionally in order to increase farmers' incomes and to
assist in providing food security, particularly in those countries not
included in the previous fruit fly projects.
- In cooperation with ACIAR, to develop a separate
multi-disciplinary fruit fly programme to address the enormous risk of
fruit fly spread through and from PNG into the rest of the region.
- To ensure sustainable technical capacity for
coordination of future activities on fruit flies within the Region.
- To promote private sector involvement in sustaining
quarantine surveillance and research into fruit fly control and
quarantine treatments for commodities destined for export.
During Phase 3, a consultative process was established by
running annually Steering Committee meetings, where national representatives
from the sub-regions meet and agree on priority activities for the Project.
The RMFFP was reviewed in October 1998 and November
2000, and reviewers commended the Project's achievements and recommended
continued support of fruit fly activities in the Pacific through additional
projects.
Key documents from Phase 3 are available on
line:
(Note
that the reports are in Portable Document File (PDF) format. They may be
downloaded and examined with Adobe Acrobat Reader program, which may be
obtained for free by contacting: http://www.adobe.com/ ):
SUMMARY OF REGIONAL FRUIT FLY PROJECTS
(1990 – 2000)
|
Dates |
Project / Phase |
Donors / Countries |
Funding |
|
Sept. 1990 to
Sept. 1991 |
TCP/RAS/0055
(Phase 1) |
FAO
(Cook Islands, Fiji, Tonga, Samoa)
|
US$174,000 |
|
Jan.1991 to
June, 1993 |
RAS/90/004
(Phase 1) |
AusAID/UNDP/SPC
(Cook Islands, Fiji, Tonga, Samoa) |
US$554,000 |
|
July, 1993 to
Dec. 1993 |
TCP/RAS/2360
(Phase 1) |
FAO
(Cook Islands, Fiji, Tonga, Samoa) |
US$130,000 |
|
Jan., 1994 to
April 1997 |
RAS/93/300
(Phase 2) |
AusAID, UNDP, New Zealand Government
(Cook Islands, Fiji, Tonga, Samoa,
Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, FSM) |
US$1,146,396
|
| May,
1997 to
December, 2000 |
RAS/97/331
(Phase 3) |
AusAID, UNDP, New Zealand Government
(All 22 SPC countries and territories) |
US$1,770,700
|
KEY ACHIEVEMENTS:
A detailed listing of achievements and impacts can be
found in the various reports available on line. Overall, the major
achievements over the period 1990-2000 include:
Technical capacity in all PICTs have been vastly
improved as indicated by the technical papers presented at the 1996
Regional Symposium on the Management of Fruit Flies in the Pacific where
21 of the 50 papers were written and presented by national staff. The Proceedings
of the Symposium have been published. Also, national staff from the
Pacific region have been used to train fruit fly workers in Vietnam as
well as in inter-country exchanges within the region.
Fruit fly laboratories and other facilities have
been set up in Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Tonga, Fiji,
Niue, Palau, PNG, Samoa, Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu.
Technical knowledge of the fruit fly fauna of all 22
PICTs is now well understood and is being used to carrying out Pest Risk
Analyses for export of fresh fruits and vegetables by potential importing
countries.
Each of the 22 PICTs now has a permanent
quarantine surveillance system based on trapping or fruit surveys and
trapping to detect the incursion of exotic damaging fruit fly species. 799
Cue-lure and 1175 methyl eugenol trapping sites are scattered over the
islands in the Pacific region (as of late 2000).
Fifteen of the 22 PICTs have draft Emergency Response
Plans to allow them to react to incursions of exotic fruit fly species.
Sustainable, environmentally sound, inexpensive field
control systems for fruit flies are now available in all PICTs. The
methods of control comprise the use of bagging of fruits using
double-layered bags, early harvesting, using tolerant varieties and
applying protein bait sprays. Combinations of these methods fit into an
integrated pest management system. Increased production in many PICTs has
resulted from using these technologies, e.g., chillies and sweet peppers
in Tonga, guavas and mangoes in Fiji, PNG and Vanuatu. NGO groups have
been used to distribute these technologies to the subsistence sector.
An inexpensive local
source of protein for the protein bait has been developed in Tonga and
Vanuatu and is being used for fruit fly control. Other countries in the
Pacific region are interested in adopting this technology.
The fruit fly activities have been instrumental in
removing constraints to trade brought about by the loss of ethylene
dibromide. New quarantine treatment technologies for fruit fly hosts, such
as non-host status and forced hot air treatments, have allowed the export
of mango, papaya, breadfruit and papaya from Fiji Islands to New Zealand
(and soon Australia) and mango and papaya from Cook Islands to New
Zealand. A range of products from Tonga, Vanuatu, New Caledonia and Samoa
may be exported in the near future.
An ongoing eradication programme was initiated in French
Polynesia for oriental fruit fly. A very successful eradication
programme was conducted in Nauru for oriental fruit fly, Pacific fruit
fly, melon fly and mango fly. Three of the four species (except mango fly)
were eradicated. Fresh ripe mangoes and other fruits are available to the
people of Nauru for the first time in about 15 years. Legislation
(Agricultural Quarantine Act) was enacted has been formulated and a
quarantine service established in Nauru. The Nauru programme was assisted
financially by the Crawford Fund for International Agricultural Research,
Aventis CropScience, Bronson and Jacobs, and Australian Quarantine.
These two eradication programmes allowed the Project to
provide hands-on training on eradication techniques for 41 Plant
Protection and Quarantine staff from 19 PICTs.
Feasibility studies have been conducted for the
eradication of oriental fruit fly in Palau. This will foster increased
production and possible export of fresh commodities. This is in line with
the Palau Government’s policy of encouraging consumption of locally
grown fresh produce.
A benefit:cost study
conducted by an external consultant revealed that for the funds spent on
the fruit fly activities there was a rate of return on investment of 28%,
based on increased production and export of fresh fruits and vegetables. The
study has been published.
Design and compilation of the Pacific Fruit
Fly Web site (www.pacifly.org),
available online and on CD.
Publication of numerous Pest
Advisory Leaflets on fruit flies and their control, and of numerous
technical and progress reports.
PEST MANAGEMENT IN THE PACIFIC - FRUIT FLY
MANAGEMENT
PROJECT (PMP – FFM) (2001-2004)
Fruit fly activities are now fully embedded
into SPC's Plant Protection Service and constitute Component 2 – Fruit Fly
Management of the Project on Pest Management in the Pacific. More
information
Page updated on: 18 October, 2002
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