“Key Informant Survey” of Production, Value, Losses and ... - DfID

South Asia Fruit Fly Network
Newsletter
Collaborative Project
Integrated Management of Fruit Flies in India (IMFFI):
The Project, its Background and Progress
Tephritid Fruit Flies
Fruit flies (in the family Tephritidae, among the “true flies” or Diptera) are destructive pests
of fruits and cucurbit vegetables (and not to be confused with the better-known
Drosophilinid fruit flies, which mostly affect over-ripe and fermenting fruit and thus are
largely economically harmless). After mating with a male, the adult female fly lays eggs into
a healthy maturing fruit, which develop into maggots which ruin the fruit as it ripens. When
the maggots are developed, they emerge from the fruit, leaving a round hole, and drop to
the ground, where they burrow into the soil to form pupae, which develop into young adult
male and female flies which fly into the vegetation to mate and lay more eggs.
As they do direct damage to fruit, the part of the crop plant which is harvested for human
consumption, fruit flies do considerable damage even when present in relatively small
numbers. Apart from the damage to fruit itself, flies damage export earning potential as
many destination markets have strict quarantine regulations to prevent fruit flies from
abroad establishing themselves in local fruit orchards.
Pest flies in India divide broadly into two groups. One attacks orchard fruit such as mango,
guava, peach and sapota, and includes major species in the genus Bactrocera (ex-Dacus)
such as B. zonata, B. dorsalis and B. caryae. The other group attacks cucurbits such as
melon, cucumber and gourds such as bitter, small, ridge and sponge gourd, and
comprises largely the melonfly Bactrocera cucurbitae. Although not a hard-and-fast
pattern, therefore, orchard flies attack relatively high-value and productive fruit crops, some
of them with export potential, whereas the melonfly attacks vegetables grown in smaller
and less profitable production systems, often by small farmers for local village markets.
Controlling Fruit Flies
As fresh fruits are targets of fruit flies, control using insecticides must be carried out as fruit
ripen, close to harvest, and thus may leave undesirable residues in/on the fruits. Alternative
controls are available, however, which exploit the attraction of adults to certain chemicals.
The first of these is the attraction of all adults to food baits. Newly-emerged young adult