Pest shuts down S.Florida's $700m fruit industry
The invasive insect was first detected near Miami a few weeks ago. Since then, authorities have banned the transport of most fruits and vegetables from one of the nation's most productive agricultural areas. It's called the Redland, a part of Miami-Dade County named for its pockets of red clay. With its tropical climate and year-round growing season, growers there produce everything from tomatoes to papayas.
Tropical fruit sales have been growing in recent years, with new varieties available to consumers. Dragon fruit is originally from Asia. Mamey — sometimes called mamey sapote — is from Central America.
Two weeks ago, agriculture officials froze production in much of the Redland farming area after they detected the Oriental fruit fly. The quarantine was imposed just as growers were beginning to harvest tropical fruit crops. Fernandez can't say how much it's all likely to cost. "We estimated that we have mamey alone about 500,000 pounds left on the trees," he says. "[As for] dragon fruit, that leaves 20 million pounds on the trees potentially."
Other tropical fruit is also affected, including sapodilla, guavas and passion fruit. Also in the balance are traditional market crops like tomatoes, peppers, beans and squash, which should be planted soon.
Florida's agriculture commissioner, Adam Putnam, has declared a state of emergency and ordered fruit stripped and destroyed in areas where the flies have been found. What makes the Oriental fruit fly so devastating, Putnam says, is that it affects more than 400 crops.
Inspectors have found about 160 Oriental fruit flies so far, but counts have been dropping, which may be a sign the eradication measures are working.
Source: npr.org