Plant
protection experts from the West African regional bloc, Ecowas recently
participated in a regional forum in Banjul where they were trained on surveillance
data analysis and how to develop a regional roadmap for the control and
monitoring of fruit flies in the region.
The
forum was organised by Gambia’s department of plant protection unit and Ecowas
Commission under the central project unit.
Dr.
Kemo Badjie from Ecowas plant protection unit said the regional grouping will
set up monitoring and early warning systems to coordinate fruit flies in the
region.
According
to him, Ecowas will build the capacities of regional members from both the
public and private sectors to train them on new technologies at both
international and national levels, saying Ecowas Commission and its member
states are involved in joint force to control fruit flies infestation and to
support fruit and vegetable producers to earn better income.
Director
General of the department of agriculture Sariyang Jobarteh said combating fruit
flies is in line with Gambia’s national development plan which matched with
agriculture ministry’s plans in trying to help farmers to combat pests.
Mr.
Jobarteh said pest management requires technical and scientific skills and
effective integrated pest management programme. “Mango is a widely grown fruit
in The Gambia and West Africa. We are aware of the challenges that Mango
growers are facing and its producers and stakeholders need to work together to
combat the problems.”
He
said farmers are incurring lot of loses from their produce due to high
infestation of fruit flies, saying the flies are rampant during Mango seasons
and combating them requires collective efforts.
“We
are aware that the management of fruit flies requires integrated approach which
should include surveillance data and information sharing. The participants are
carefully identified and will become ambassadors in combating fruit flies from
their various countries. Mango is an important fruit and contributes to
national food security,” he said.
Landing
Sonko, director of plant protection unit urged the participants to come up with
good recommendations to tackle the fruit flies in the West Africa region.