Horticulture

Development of area-wide management approaches for fruit flies in mango for Indonesia, Philippines, Australia and the Asia-Pacific region

Overview

This project is reducing mango fruit-fly infestation and improving yield and quality through area-wide management and improved pre- and post-harvest practices and improving production and trade.

The estimated number of mango growers in Indonesia and the Philippines is 2.3 and 2.5 million respectively. In both cases, over 70% of mango growers are resource-poor smallholders.

While the area allocated to mango production is on average less than 0.15 ha, mangoes play a significant role in supplementing on- and off-farm incomes.

Pests and diseases, along with poor crop-management practices, constantly threaten productivity and the quality of the fruit in both countries.

In Indonesia, efforts to develop and deploy area-wide management (AWM) of fruit flies in West Java will be supported and monitored by this project. Additionally, a system will be created to enable growers to shift a significant proportion of their production to the highly fruit-fly susceptible but more lucrative Gedong Gincu variety.

In the Philippines, a small pilot trial will test a simplified AWM-based system.

Expected project outcomes

Economic benefits due to reduced fruit fry losses and improved fruit quality.
Increased awareness among farmers of beneficial species for a range of pests, providing greater knowledge of where and when to use insecticides and the consequences of using broad spectrum compounds.
Dissemination of new knowledge and skills to other farmers in the participating communities.
Increased capacity to adopt best practice post-harvest handling and treatment methods.
Increased understanding of fruit fly control strategies that are simple and inexpensive to apply.
Health benefits due to reduced use of broad-spectrum insecticides and improved insecticide application methods in mango production.

Summary of outcomes to date

2021–22

Indonesia

Fruit fly populations at the commercially treated sites were extremely high, up to 400 flies per trap per day (FTD), compared to below 1 FTD at the two AWM sites
Male annihilation technique (MAT) blocking densities halved at Krasak and Sedong Lor villages. Density reduction did not affect efficacy and reduced densities will reduce implementation costs
Two new sites established: 1) Majalengka, West Java 2) Gresik, East Java
Boron trials progressing to solve White patchy rice disorder
Draft mango value chain report completed
2020 snapshot socioeconomic survey completed
2021 business training/technical guidance for mango farmers completed
2022 connecting gedong gincu AWM mangoes to the modern markets is being finalized (shipments planned for late 2022)
The Improved fruit fly marking and observation techniques for mark, release and recapture research was shown to be efficacious on a large batch of 40 000 pupae

Philippines

Fruit fly AWM research progressing
Improved fruit bagging practices reduce fruit fly infestation and disease incidence
Combinations of improved bagging practices and hot water, prochloraz dips result in improved quality and shelf life
Fruit bagging and prochloraz research published
Mango harvest quality monitored, Cecid fly, thrips and scab are major problems
In transit trials of different pre- and post-harvest treated fruit are underway

Australia

High-density trellis and high-density commercial pruning had significantly less mango scale and better spray penetration than low-density commercial pruning and medium density pruned mangoes
Protein bait compound research has identified attractive compounds for Bactrocera dorsalis and Zeugodacus cucurbitae. Australian lab trials underway

2022-23

Indonesia

Fruit fly populations at AW IPM sites remain low compared to non-AW IPM sites
New site at Majalengka achieved FTD <1 within five months of implementation Majalengka growers received a 10% bonus for the high quality fruit
Site at Gresik was unsuitable due to field crops dominating the area and mango production a very small proportion of the area.
2022 report on linking Krasak gedong gincu AW IPM farmers to the modern markets (AEON) has been completed
Two models of linking to markets have been tested.
- i) Krasak fruit: responsibility to deliver fruit to several stores, this includes purchase of cartons.
- ii) Majalengka fruit: packed by farmers in cartons supplied by Ranch Markets and fruit collected and distributed by the purchaser

Philippines

Improved bagging practices using Taiwan bags increase fruit retention and reduce fruit fly and disease incidence
Combination of Taiwan bag and Hot Water prochloraz resulted in better quality fruit and longer shelf life due to delayed onset of disease
In transit trials demonstrated fruit quality and shelf life was significantly better for Taiwan bag and hot water prochloraz treatments

Gender Research

Project partners participated in the “Sout-Eeast Asia regional workshop on integrated gender in Agriculture in a changing climate” Bali 6-8 December 2022
Household surveys and focus group discussions are imminent
Online workshops are underway to develop survey protocols and develop common tools for data collection

Australia

Protein bait compound research has identified compounds that are attractive to the Queensland fruit fly, Bactrocera tryoni
Initial blends of protein bait compounds attracted significantly more mature fruit flies than the negative control in large cage bioassays
Further blend bioassays are underway