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Area-Wide Management of Mediterranean Fruit Fly with the Sterile Insect Technique in South Africa: New Production and Management Techniques Pay Dividends

A mass-rearing facility to produce sterile male Mediterranean fruit flies, Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann), for a Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) programme in the Hex River Valley in the Western Cape Province started in the late 1990s. The programme was initially underfunded and could only produce about 5 million sterile male flies per week. The resultant aerial release rate of 500 sterile males/ha/week reduced wild Mediterranean fruit fly populations substantially, but not to sufficiently low levels. Due to financial considerations, in 2003 aerial releases were replaced with ground releases targeting all gardens, other hotspots and neglected host plants. It was clear that with more funding, fruit fly mass-rearing facility and field operations could be improved, better quality control could be implemented, and more and better quality male sterile flies could be produced and released. Increased government support in 2001 resulted in a larger mass-rearing facility, and further improvements included the implementation of a quality control management system and the introduction of a new genetic sexing strain (VIENNA 8). The resultant increase in the production of sterile Mediterranean fruit flies of better quality enabled the SIT programme to be systematically introduced to additional fruit production areas. The Mediterranean fruit fly SIT programme was privatised in 2003 and is now operated by FruitFly Africa (Pty) Ltd. In 2009 a new approach to funding was adopted with a renewable Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) and the deciduous fruit and table grape industry. Under the MoU, the DAFF provides 50% of the necessary funding, while 50% is collected from growers through statutory levies. In 2010 a new state of the art mass-rearing facility became operational and subsequent improvements in production processes and facility maintenance resulted in improved fruit fly production and quality. By 2016 sterile male production had increased to 56 million flies per week. After 12 years of ground releases of sterile Mediterranean fruit flies, aerial releases were resumed in three main production areas, and, at the time of writing, include approximately 15 000 ha of commercial deciduous fruit and table grapes. As a result of this well-funded area-wide integrated pest management (AW-IPM) programme, average wild Mediterranean fruit fly populations in the SIT areas have decreased by as much as 73%. The