Basseterre, St. Kitts, March 2, 2020 (SKNIS): The Department of Agriculture’s Plant Quarantine Unit is actively searching for ways to identify and eradicate various pests that attack and destroy crops within the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis as part of its crop protective measures.
The Director of the Department of Agriculture, Melvin James, made this announcement during his presentation at the Department of Agriculture’s Annual Review and Planning Meeting held at the St. Kitts Marriott Resort on February 26 under the theme “Creating Partnership and Linkages for Sustainable Agriculture.”
“We have safeguarding mechanism, meaning protection of our borders and we have active surveillance,” he said.
“The Plant Quarantine Unit goes around the island [placing] traps with baits in them. These baits are put at the ports of entry and even out in the field,” Mr. James said.
“If by any chance they get in here, we want to be able to detect them as soon as they arrive and control them before they get established,” he added.
Some of the pests that the Plant Quarantine Unit is actively searching for include the Mediterranean Fruit Fly, the Carambola Fruit Fly and the Tuta Absoluta.
The director reported that so far, none of these pests has been found within the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis.
