This fruit-fly (Bacterocera dorsalis) has cost Indian farmers and horticulturists Rs. 50 Crores in export earnings this year.
Quarantine officials in the European Union detected traces of fruit-fly larvae in a consignment of mangoes and promptly placed a ban on imports. They want to avoid, as far as possible, the chances of their own fruit & vegetable patches getting infested with this particular insect.
Is the fear unfounded? Can this tropical insect survive the European winters? If 400 hundred years of trade did not transmit it, it is rational to believe that by just closing the dock gates to this fruit-fly will be of any help?
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REFERENCES:
* Verma, Varuna (2014): PEST CONTROL, The Telegraph, 4Jun14 -- http://www.telegraphindia.com/1140604/jsp/opinion/story_18476634.jsp#.U4_14vmSwSM
* Note on Non-Tarrif-Barriers imposed by other countries - http://www.apeda.gov.in/apedawebsite/Databank/NTBs_July_08.pdf
* The EU Combined Nomenclature (CN) -- http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/customs/customs_duties/tariff_aspects/combined_nomenclature/index_en.htm
* International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) -- https://www.ippc.int/
* Compliance standards of USDA-APHIS (Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service) - http://www.aphis.usda.gov/wps/portal/aphis/home/
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