NAQS Set To Tackle Fruits Pests

The Nigeria Agricultural Quarantine Service (NAQS) says it is mapping out strategies to tackle the menace of fruit flies in prone areas.

The Coordinating Director of the agency, Dr. Mike Nwaneri told newsmen that tackling the threat of the pest was essential to the actualisation of fruit production and exportation.

This, he said, was in line with the Agricultural Transformation Agenda of the present administration. Nwaneri noted that the country has export potential in fruit but had not done well in the export market due to the prevalence of pests.

He, however, gave the assurance that measures to control the pests were currently on board in 10 states. He added that traps in the form of attractors had been set up to curb the population of these pests.

“Fruit fly infestation happens in many parts of the world but when a country is able to control its population (fruit-fly); it helps its fruit market to gain access into the international market.

“We (NAQS) are currently embarking on a control programme to determine the level of the pests on vegetation in some states of the federation.

“We will set traps like pheromones — a chemical that attracts or triggers a response in members of same species, to attract them in order to reduce their population.”

Nwaneri explained that a survey to regulate pests in the pilot states commenced in November 2012. The states are Oyo, Ogun, Rivers, Enugu, Delta, Imo, Anambra, Benue and Kogi. He also said that the control programme would subsequently go national to help ascertain, demarcate and create fruit-fly free areas in order to enhance fruit production and exportation.

According to Nwaneri, NAQS will work with the Horticulture value chain in the federal Ministry of Agriculture, to achieve the desired result.

The Tide recalls that Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, had said in 2012 that efforts to develop the domestic and international markets for Nigeria’s horticulture produce is on track.

Nwaneri encouraged commercial fruit producers with orchards and fruit plantations encountering the pests to reach out to the agency for assistance.

The Tide also reports that common among the fruit flies is the ‘Tephritid’, an agricultural pest that has a major impact, causing damage to commercial and backyard fruits. The damage caused by larvae feeding on fruits like oranges, guava and mangoes, makes the fruits fall to the ground premature and unfit for human consumption.

NAQS is a Department under the federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, mandated to ensure that all agricultural products leaving or coming into the country meet international standard. These include plants, animals and aquatic produce.