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

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

This Summary will be published on the ACIAR website and should be written in dot- point format, minimising the use of scientific jargon and acronyms (no more than 250 words). 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