06/11/2012

Hammamet, Tunisia, 6‐8 November 2012

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The Regional Symposium on the Management of Fruit Flies in Near East Countries, Hammamet, Tunisia, 6-8 November 2012, was organized jointly by FAO, FAO-IAEA, AAEA, NEPPO, IOBC North Africa Commission, DG Plant Protection in Tunisia and the Tunisian Association of Plant Protection (ATPP).

The symposium included several key speakers, oral presentations, posters, a round table and a field trip, and dealt mainly with the following issues:

 

  • Brief background, history and geographical distribution of fruit flies;
  • Biology, ecology, life cycle, host preferences and nature of damage of fruit flies;
  • Detection and phytosanitary measures (pathways);
  • Management strategies :
    • Surveillance
    • Semiochemicals (mass trapping, bait stations)
    • Sanitation (good agricultural practices)
    • Sterile Insect Technique (SIT)
    • Male Annihilation Technique (MAT)
    • Chemical
  • Contingency measures to respond to outbreaks;
  • Problems outside the Near East region, especially in Africa, Asia and South Europe;
  • Round table: conclusions, recommended IPM-fruit flies strategies;
  • Technical and tourist trip to Cap bon (Centre Technique des Agrumes – CTA), Tunisia

The symposium provided a common forum for researchers, regulatory authorities, experts from extension services or advisory bodies, and the crop protection industry, NGOs, and many private sector and regional organizations, etc. It was a good occasion to share knowledge on fruit fly biology, phytosanitary and control measures, particularly surveillance/ monitoring, gaps and IPM strategy. Therefore, the available information related to the integrated management (IPM) of fruit flies was collected from different parts of the globe but especially from the Mediterranean region.

More than 100 participants took part in the symposium, coming from 23 countries in the Middle East, North Africa, Europe, Africa and Asia.

The activities of the symposium were developed according to the attached agenda (see below). The symposium took place under the patronage of HE Minister of Agriculture in Tunisia who opened the symposium in the presence of a representative of the FAO Sub-regional Office for North Africa in Tunisia (SNE), the DG of Plant Protection in Tunisia as well as the representatives of different regional organizations participating in the symposium.

A summary on the different sessions is attached in Annex II and abstracts as well as presentations in the Annex III.

All the information related the Symposium, including the agenda and list of participants, are uploaded on the website of FAO-AGP, RNE, FAO-IAEA, AAEA, NEPPO, IOBC and other organizers.

Agenda

Session 1: Biology, Ecology and Population Dynamics (I)
Session 4: Control methods: Cultural and biocontrol
Session 5: Control methods: Chemical control
  • Hasanein Yousuf Abdul Raheem:The geographical distributions of Mediterranean fruit flyCeratitis capitata (Wiedeman) (Diptera:Tephritidae) and its management in Iraq.
  • Hossein Noori and H. Heidary: The olive fruit fly, Bactrocera oleae Gmelin (Dip: Tephritidae), management in Iran.
  • Shahadath Hossain, Azmat Ullah and Golam Kibria: Development of management strategy against fruit fly Bactrocera dorsalis in mandarin (Citrus reticulata).
Session 6: Control methods: Mass trapping and bait stations
Session 7: Control methods: MAT and SIT
Session 8: Genetics, Quarantine and Post-harvest Treatments