Papaya at Risk From the Massive Attack of Mealy Bugs

"All papayas were covered with insects and they turned black after that." Declaration of Meera Devi Joyahir, fruit farmer in Trou aux Biches, reflects a dilemma faced by papaya growers of tropical fruits, especially .

Two new species of mealybugs, discovered earlier this year, devastating papaya, causing a shortage of the fruit on the market. "There is virtually no papaya market. "

You have to go in places where the scales are less present, my clients tell me that it is difficult to find, "says the farmer who had a couple of papaya trees in his orchard. She tried all kinds of pesticide, in vain. Finally, she had to resolve to kill all plants.

"This is the first time I've seen it in ten years. I could not even leave the leaves to rot. The truck has blown " she said. Meera Devi Joyahir had to make this sacrifice to save the vegetables that are in the same orchard. Mealybugs had also begun to invade Lalos and chilies. "I was going to lose everything."

Damage in plantations peppers, Gir Seechurn knows something. This planter Petit Raffray is fighting tirelessly against these scales. "There is already a disease that gives the peppers black spots before they rot, now there are these white aphids invade our fields. This is too much, "he said bitterly.

While vegetable prices fall, peppers are still expensive.

And the current climate is not to fix things.

This planter has received advice from the Ministry of Agro-industry, without any result. "In practice, the boards are not effective" , he says.

The Department recognizes that the papaya are severely affected by this invasion. "We noted that commercial papayas are most vulnerable, while the so-called 'wild' are more resistant to attack mealybugs. It is recommended not to spray pesticides to plants as natural predators of scale insects grow " , says one.

Before the invasion of these insects, the Department requested the assistance of the World Health Organization. A formal request was made last month.

In addition, the ministry has asked the French government last week to send natural predators to remove the scales. These are used to meeting.

These scales have appeared in the island for the first time in January. One species has been discovered for the first time at the meeting in 2010, while the other is from the African continent.