Improving Mango Production through environmentally friendly fruit fly control

In recent years, mango production in Kenya has increased considerably in importance and now represents a valuable source of nutrition and income for many farmers. Over 12,000 hectares are estimated to be used for mango production in Kenya. However, farmers regularly endure large crop losses, caused mainly by species of fruit fly that have been introduced. The female fruit fly lays her eggs in the mango fruit. A short time later the maggots hatch and feed on the sweet flesh of the fruit. In this way the mangoes rot from the inside out. Because of the strict quarantine regulations to combat fruit flies, small-scale farmers are denied access to lucrative export markets such as South Africa, Europe and Japan.

The goal of this project is to protect the farmers‘ mango production from fruit flies through an innovative combination of different methods. The most important method of combating fruit fly infestation is the widespread introduction of its natural enemy, a type of wasp. The wasp (Fopius arisanus) is released in the mango plantations and as its natural enemy specifically parasitises the eggs of the fruit fly. As other projects demonstrate, this does not affect other organisms. Another natural enemy of the fruit fly is the weaver ant, which can be directly encouraged in mango plantations to restore the natural balance. Farmers are trained in how they can protect their mango plantations with the help of the natural enemies of the fruit fly and other integrated methods such as baited traps. Mango producers learn to regularly and systematically monitor their fields to test the efficacy of the measures.