A farmer of the town of Tatsugo in Amami Oshima Island, Kagoshima Prefecture, takes care of a citrus tree after the nnouncement that oriental fruit flies are radicated from the island.
There was a spreading feeling of relief among citrus farmers of Amami Oshima Island in Kagoshima Prefecture, as the emergency pest control for oriental fruit flies, a highly destructive pest of citrus plants, ended on Thursday, July 14.
For seven months since December, when the farm ministry banned shipments of Tankan oranges outside the island, the farmers had to continue disposing of all fruits in an effort to get rid of the flies altogether.
Now they are preparing for next year’s shipments with a strong determination not to let the species enter the island ever again.
A severe shock hit the island in November last year, as the farm ministry revealed the possibility that oriental fruit flies, which are said to have become extinct in the
island 35 years ago, are establishing themselves again.
To prevent the species from spreading, farmers were banned from shipping all Tankan oranges whose harvest time was near and were asked to dispose of all the oranges. A total of some 1,514 tons were disposed of by April 18. They suffered damages totaling hundreds of millions of yen, as the citrus is one of the island’s major crops.
Young farmers led the efforts to eradicate the flies by cutting down wild plants such as guava, which become a hotbed for harmful insects, using chainsaws. Officials of municipal governments and agricultural cooperatives supported them. Helicopters were used in areas where it is difficult to spray pesticides by hand. Such moves eventually led the farm ministry’s advisory panel of experts to judge the flies were eliminated.