News
Fruit Fly Detection in DR will not interrupt trade with TCI
Dana Malcolm
Staff Writer
#TurksandCaicos, January 20, 2024 – Trade between the Turks and Caicos and the Dominican Republic will not be affected because of the new reports of an outbreak of Fruit Flies in the DR. The Agriculture Department told Magnetic Media monitoring for the medfly was activated for the island of Providenciales which is the country’s main shipping hub.
“[We] will be extending the surveillance campaign to Grand Turk and North and Middle Caicos in the coming weeks. The Turks and Caicos Islands have not detected any fly of the two genera in our surveillance programme,” said Roneta Huntley Thomas, Chief Plant Protection Officer.
The response came in relation to questions from the Magnetic Media news team promoted by several reports from
The local team also shared correspondence that was distributed to Plant Protection Officers in the region.
“The correspondence stated that it was a male fly. The male fruit fly cannot reproduce. The Surveillance programme in the Dominican Republic was also reinforced. To date, there are no reports of additional detection of this species of fruit fly in the Dominican Republic,” said Thomas.
Multiple pests were reportedly found in the DR in both Bávaro and Punta Cana according to local news agencies.
“The Ministry of Agriculture detected an outbreak in Los Corales, Punta Cana, La Altagracia province. So, it activated an emergency protocol in the detection perimeter through the National Program for the Surveillance and Control of Fruit Flies,” said Dominican Today.
Thomas assured though that all imports of mangoes from the Dominican Republic, one of the most popular imports to the TCI, must be from a field under the Fruit Fly surveillance programme and reiterated that trade between the two countries will not be affected.