Belize is under a fruit-fly quarantine after the agricultural pest was detected in southern Belize. BAHA has confirmed that fruit flies were found at various points in the Toledo District, Mango Creek, and along the Placencia Peninsula.
The quarantine was implemented on Saturday July 13th and a round the clock checkpoint was set up on the Southern Highway near Silk Grass.
It's imperative that Belize suppress the fruitfly because it could meaningfully threaten exports of papayas and citrus. Today CEO in the Ministry of Agriculture Jose Alpuche explained the threat:
Jose Alpuche - CEO, Ministry of Agriculture
"Yes, we've detected the Mediterranean fruit fly in Southern Belize, so BAHA had to implement a quarantine from Silk Grass down South to the entire Southern part of the country."
Daniel Ortiz
"Can you explain to us what takes place when this fruit fly becomes a problem?"
Jose Alpuche
"Well what BAHA is required to do is to confiscate any fruit coming out of the quarantine area, fruit that are hosts to the fly. The real danger with the Mediterranean fruit fly is that it could impact other industries, such as citrus and papaya. If those industries are affected, we could lose our export market until we can then eradicate the flies, so it is a very serious threat."
Daniel Oritz
"So tell us, are we able to get this under control?"
Jose Alpuche
"Yes it's not the first time that we've had an infestation, I believe the last one was in 2003, and I think we have every confidence that we would be able to bring this one under control too. One point I wanted to make was to try and call on the public to please cooperate with us - it's absolutely essential, we know that some people may lose some earnings because they can't move a fruit out of the area but those fruits can still be sold within the area under quarantine but they just can't move them out. We really call on them for their understanding; it's really and truly, at the end of the day, for the greater good of the country. We cannot afford, at this point in time, to lose any of our export markets."
Violations will lead to immediate confiscation and destruction of produce regardless of quantity.
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