US firm tapped to wipe out pests in PH mango farms

MANILA, Philippines —The Department of Agriculture (DA) is turning to American firm Sun & Earth Microbiology LLC to eliminate Cecid fly infestation in the country’s mango farms.

The agency said it would invite experts from Sun & Earth, a biotechnology company based in Florida, to eradicate the problem that has affected local production since it was first recorded in 1987.

“The flies destroy up to 80 percent of mango fruits, with those affected showing brown scab-like spots. These pests usually start infesting mango trees shortly after flowering,” the DA said in a statement on Wednesday.

The DA expressed its openness to test the products of Sun & Earth, which helped control fusarium wilt in bananas. Fusarium wilt is a fungus that causes discoloration and wilting that eventually kills the plant.

READ: Harvest drop expected as mango growers battle cecid flies

Likewise, the agency is willing to try Sun & Earth’s products for rice bugs.

The DA said Sun & Earth intends to use biological microbes that had been successfully tested against the insects in Venezuela, Columbia and Vietnam to deal with the Cecid fly problem in Palawan, where mango production in some 100,000 hectares of orchard had been affected.

The agency also said Sun & Earth also uses biological control agents to paralyze Cecid flies, a mosquito-like insect that lays its eggs on the fruit surface and young mango leaves. Its larva bores into the fruit and feeds on it, causing holes in the fruit.

It will assist Sun & Earth in bringing the latter’s customized products to the country as the US company expressed some concerns about securing clearances from the Food and Drug Administration.