CROATIA / FRUIT FLY RADIATION

Farmers in Croatia are using nuclear technology to tackle the Mediterranean fruit fly, a common pest that poses a serious threat to the country's lucrative fruit industry. IAEA

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:03:07
• Production Date: 18 January 2012
• Asset Language: Original
• Corporate Name: INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY - IAEA
• Subject Topical: AGRICULTURE; FORESTRY; FISHING; SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY; NUCLEAR SCIENCE
• Geographic Subject: CROATIA
• MAMS Id: U120118c

Description

STORY: CROATIA / FRUIT FLY RADIATION
TRT: 3.07
SOURCE: IAEA
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: OCTOBER 2011, OPUZEN, NERETVA VALLEY, CROATIA

Shotlist

OCTOBER 2011, OPUZEN, NERETVA VALLEY

1. Wide shot, valley
2. Close up, mandarins in Agrofructus packing facility
3. Med shot, mandarins being sorted
4. Wide shot, Agrofructus packing facility
5. Med shot, mandarins being sorted
6. Wide shot, fruit harvesting
7. Close up, fruit harvesting
8. Med shot, fruit harvesting
9. Close up, mandarins in container
10. Zoom in, wild fruit flies on mandarins
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Mario Bjelis, Assistant Director, Croatian Institute for Plant Protection
(CCAFRA):
“The Mediterranean fruit fly is a pest of huge economic importance for this area. The reason of this is because the Neretva Valley is producing over 90 percent of the mandarins of Croatia. And from this total production, more than 70 percent is exported to the countries which do not accept the residues of the pesticides on the fruit, but also because the quarantine reason, don’t allow to import infected fruits.”
12. Wide shot, damaged fruit
13. Close up, mandarin being opened
14. Cutaway, eyes of IAEA entomologist
15. Close up, larva in mandarin
16. SOUNDBITE (English) Rui Pereira Cardoso, IAEA/FAO Entomologist:
“The SIT is based on birth control of the insects, which has produced big numbers of the same species, males, in laboratories, in big facilities that then are released on the fields and when these flies mate, these males mate with the wild females, the wild females’ eggs didn’t hatch. The eggs are sterile; they are not fecundated with sperm of the sterile males.”
17. Various shots, pupae and flies in lab
18. Med shot, fly experiments
19. SOUNDBITE (English) Rui Pereira Cardoso, IAEA/FAO Entomologist:
“The main benefit is an environmentally friendly method. On the wetlands areas they are not allowed to use insecticides, they are not allowed to use insecticides to export to European Union countries. They have to go with an environmentally friendly method and SIT is a good example of this method.”
20. Wide shot, sterile flies being releases in orchards
21. Close up, flies being released
22. Close up, flies being released from machine
23. Med shot, release machine
24. Close up, releases
25. Close up, flies in release machine
26. Wide shot, release machine driving off
27. Close up, mating flies in field cage
28. Close up, entomologist looks into trap
29. Close up, inside the fly trap
30. Med shot, lab test with UV light to distinguish male from female flies
31. Close up, flies under UV light, zoom in

Storyline

Farmers in Croatia are using nuclear technology to tackle the Mediterranean fruit fly, a common pest that poses a serious threat to the country’s lucrative fruit industry.

With the support of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), Croatia is implementing the Sterile Insect Technique (SIT).

The Croatian project is centred around the Neretva valley, the heart of the country’s citrus fruit industry, and was recently extended to neighbouring Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro.

SOUNDBITE (English) Mario Bjelis, Assistant Director, Croatian Institute for Plant Protection
(CCAFRA):
“The Mediterranean fruit fly is a pest of huge economic importance for this area. The reason of this is because the Neretva Valley is producing over 90 percent of the mandarins of Croatia. And from this total production, more than 70 percent is exported to the countries which do not accept the residues of the pesticides on the fruit, but also because the quarantine reason, don’t allow to import infected fruits.”

SIT, also known as "birth control for insects", suppresses populations by breeding large numbers of males that are sterilised with a short burst of radiation.

When released into the wild they breed with females who in turn produce eggs that do not hatch – so the wild fly population is suppressed.

SOUNDBITE (English) Rui Pereira Cardoso, IAEA/FAO Entomologist:
“The SIT is based on birth control of the insects, which has produced big numbers of the same species, males, in laboratories, in big facilities that then are released on the fields and when these flies mate, these males mate with the wild females, the wild females’ eggs didn’t hatch. The eggs are sterile; they are not fecundated with sperm of the sterile males.”

Around 90 percent of the people in the Neretva region are involved in the fruit industry, producing over 70,000 tonnes of the main crop, the mandarin, for domestic and international markets every year.

SOUNDBITE (English) Rui Pereira Cardoso, IAEA/FAO Entomologist:
“The main benefit is an environmentally friendly method. On the wetlands areas they are not allowed to use insecticides, they are not allowed to use insecticides to export to European Union countries. They have to go with an environmentally friendly method and SIT is a good example of this method.”

But around a third of the fruit is currently being destroyed by the Mediterranean fruit fly.

The pest lays its eggs in fruit and when the larvae develop they start to feed, damaging the pulp – and the livelihoods of the farmers and exporters.

The positive results of the sterile insect technique project can be seen by trapping flies in the release areas to see if the sterile flies are outnumbering their wild counterparts.

This is done using ultra violet light to identify the wild from the sterile flies, which are marked with a special dye prior to release.

Fruits from the SIT area and from those not involved in the project are screened and compared for levels of infestation. To check whether sterile males can compete with their fertile counterparts flies are observed while mating in field cages.

The Mediterranean fruit fly is not just a Croatian problem. In neighbouring Bosnia the fly destroys apple orchards and is severely limiting the value of the country’s fruit industry.

In fact the fly is one of the world’s most destructive pests and can be found in fruit-growing regions all over the world.

The IAEA is currently cooperating with 80 countries that are using or preparing to use SIT – an environmentally friendly and cost-effective technique - to control the pest.