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The control fruit flies by the sterile insect technique to reduce insecticide use and protect wetlands in Croatia

A 2010 pilot effort to use the sterile insect technique (SIT) to control an endemic Mediterranean fruit fly pest population (Ceratitis capitata) in the mandarin-growing region of the Neretva Valley in southern Croatia proved very successful with the support of the Joint FAO/IAEA Division. As the area under SIT application had 75 per cent less damage than the non-SIT area, it prompted quadrupling the target area from 1 000 to 4 000 ha after two years. The expansion had the support of the entire industry, including growers, packers and exporters. In fact, one of the packers made space available to receive 20 million sterilized male Mediterranean fruit fly pupae each week from mass-rearing facilities. The effort has continued to pay off. From 2012 to 2014, it allowed farmers to reduce insecticide use in the extended area covered by SIT by 20, 000 litres per year and to decrease damage from the Mediterranean fruit fly by 96 per cent compared to the non-covered area. Furthermore, larval infestation in export shipments decreased to 0.2 per cent, leading to the decision by growers and authorities to gradually expand SIT coverage to the entire 8 000 ha valley in 2015 by the release of 20 million sterile flies per week from April to November. But also the invasive exotic pests include among others highly poliphagous species such as the peach fruit fly, Bacrocera zonata, and the species of the oriental fruit fly Bactrocera dorsalis complex species represent a treat for Croatian and other parts the Balkans and Eastern Mediterranean. To this end, a detection trapping network was installed at the ports of entry of 12 countries in the Balkans and Eastern Mediterranean (Albania Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Georgia Greece Montenegro Romania Slovenia The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Turkey) targeting those exotic species.

Nereva valley, protected wetlands, Ceratitis capitata, mandarins, international trade, sterile insect technique (SIT)

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