Punta Cana – Technicians from the Ministry of Agriculture and regional food safety agencies carried out a Mediterranean fruit fly eradication drill this week in Punta Cana, Higüey, where it was detected in December. It was the second time that the fly entered the country through the same place. The pest was spread in the East by infected imported mangoes distributed to people at the Punta Cana airport. The pest, which is under control, will be eradicated in the coming weeks, according to Rosa Lazala, Director of Agricultural Health. The country is on the way to eliminating the transitory introduction of Ceratitis capitata, which is being carried out by the emergency protocol. She recalled that the drill included the release of more sterile male hops of the fly.
To date, 22 releases have been made out of 24 under the emergency plan, more than three million flies per week. He said the Dominican Republic is on the verge of eliminating this insect in record time. It is a model for 13 countries in Mesoamerica taken as a reference in the Subregional Simulation of International Scope of the Mediterranean Fruit Fly Eradication Program for the Caribbean Region and other member nations of the Regional International Organization for Agricultural Health.
USDA-APHIS, the International Plant Protection Convention, FAO, the International Atomic Energy Agency, SENASICA, and the Tripartite Project Mexico-Guatemala-United States support the initiative.