Sugar cane pest returns to Barbados

Agriculture officials in Barbados work to bring the Moth Borer pest under control.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, Monday April 16, 2012 – Barbadian authorities are pulling out all the stops to protect the island’s sugar industry following the return of the Moth Borer.

Head of the Ministry of Agriculture’s Entomology Section, Ian Gibbs, said there was a dramatic increase of the major pest of sugar cane pest on the island, and the damage it causes over the last two to three years.

However, in an effort to protect the sugar industry, Mr. Gibbs said the Agronomy Research and Variety Testing Unit of the Barbados Agricultural Management Company, had set up a small laboratory to mass produce one of the pest’s parasitoids – the Cotesia flavipes or a tiny wasp.

Mr. Gibbs explained once the parasitoid was mass produced in large numbers, they would be released in fields which tested positive for having Moth Borer damage.

Meanwhile, he is appealing to Barbadian sugar cane farmers to work alongside the department and give officials their full co-operation as they try to bring the pest under control. Click here to receive free news bulletins via email from Caribbean360. (View sample)