Declaring war on pests

Headlines

FOR 10 years a quiet battle has been ranging in the Pacific Islands. It is a battle of blind instincts and numbers against the inventive genius of man. It is called biological control (or bio-con trol).

The fight is against insects, weeds, rodents and other garden and farm pests and diseases that threaten food produc tion in island countries.

This month, at least 60 experts will meet in Nadi, Fiji, to review bio-control activities in the Pacific in the past 10 years and map out a strategy for the next 10 years. Organised by the South Pacific Commission, the workshops will bring together government bio control heads and scientists from col

laborating organisations.

For many years the control of pests involved the use of chemicals which are now known to be harmful to people and the environment.

More than 10 years ago, scientists in the Pacific began using natural para sites and predators as alternatives to pesticides in the battle against the innu

merable organisms and phenomena of nature that threaten agricultural produc tion.

Some examples of bio-control activ ities in the region include: • taro beetle control in the Solomon Islands; • mimosa weed control in Fiji, Papua New Guinea and Western Samoa; and • the control of rhinoceros beetle on coconuts in many countries in the

region.

Among the recent successes in bio control has been the use of an insect to control lantana weed in the Solomon Islands and the use of weevil to control salvinia weed in Fiji, New Caledonia and Papua New Guinea.

“It was in Tonga in 1985 that the first regional bio-control meeting was held which directed the course of events that have brought about the work carried out so far,” said a state ment from SPC. “This second meeting aims to review achievements and short comings and analyse what needs to be done in the next decade.”