NEWS
Oriental fruit fly warning from Daff
T
he Dept of Agriculture,
Forestry & Fisheries
(Daff) has issued a
reminder to users of land or
land owners of renewed
measures that have been
taken to prevent and combat
the spread of the Oriental
fruit fly.
According to recent amend-
ments to legislation, the areas
that are infested by this fruit
fly include Gauteng,
Limpopo, Mpumalanga,
North West, some parts of
KwaZulu-Natal and most
recently in Grabouw in the
Western Cape. A removal
permit will be required to
move fruit from these areas to
Oriental fruit fly-free areas.
It is worth noting that the
removal permit will be issued
only if the relevant appli-
cant/land user complied with
the stipulated good agricul-
tural practices as per the
issued official order and the
fruit or material has been
found to be free of infesta-
tion, following an on-farm/on-
site inspection.
Anyone intending to move
Oriental fruit fly host
fruit/material from an infested
area to a non-infested area
should seek guidance from
Daff's Inspection Services,
whose staff are responsible for
issuing of an official order
with a prescribed list of on-
farm good agricultural
practices, rendering the on-
farm/on-site inspections and
the issuing of removal
permits.
Oriental fruit fly Bactrocera invadens.
In Gauteng the relevant
officials can be reached at
telephone numbers 012 309
8735/ 8791/ 8763, or
alternatively by e-mail at
[email protected].
The Oriental fruit fly is an
exotic fruit fly native to Asia,
previously described as the
Invader fruit fly (Bactrocera
invadens).
According to Invasives SA,
Asian fruit fly is the world's
worst destructive pest of fruit
and vegetables. It is now
found in at least 65 countries
and in most of Africa's sub-
Saharan countries.
The crop hosts include
mango, guava, citrus,
avocado, banana, coffee,
papaya, passion fruit, pear,
apricot, peach, cherry, apple,
pepper and tomato.
It spreads through the
international movement of
infested fruits and it then
infests commercial fruit crops.
The male is red-brown with a
reddish-yellow face and an
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