The Hawaii area-wide fruit fly pest management programme: Influence of partnerships and a good education programme

Abstract

In 1999, the United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS) launched the Hawaii Area-wide Fruit Fly Pest Management (HAW-FLYPM) programme. Its aim was to suppress populations of the melon fly Bactrocera cucurbitae (Coquillet), Mediterranean fruit fly Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann), and oriental fruit fly Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel) to levels below economic thresholds while reducing the use of organophosphate insecticides. The programme was carried out on farms in demonstration sites of less than 5000 hectares each on the islands of Hawaii, Maui, and Oahu. The goals involved developing and integrating biologically-based pest control technologies into a comprehensive management package that would be economically viable, environmentally sensitive and sustainable. The technologies included: field sanitation, protein bait sprays and/or traps, male annihilation with male lures and attractants, and if needed, augmentative parasitoid releases, and sterile insect releases. Although many of these technologies were developed in Hawaii by the USDA-ARS, they had never been packaged and transferred to Hawaiian farmers. Aside from the technical issues that underpin a successful area-wide integrated pest management (AW-IPM) programme, attention was given to the development of partnerships to address the large number of non-technical issues that arise. This was accomplished through individuals and institutions that were knowledgeable and willing to assist with key aspects of the programme such as: grower and community-based education on fruit flies (University of Hawaii), regulatory issues related to implementation of the programme and to subsequent registration of any new technologies (Hawaii Department of Agriculture), and industry (Dow AgroSciences, Better World Manufacturing, United Agricultural Products, etc.), who provided products already on the market for use by growers. Finally, in addition to scientists, an advisory group was created to guide the programme. The HAWFLYPM's educational programme targeted growers and community backyard growers, and utilized the "logic model" approach to organize, plan, execute and evaluate farmer and community educational programmes state-wide. The logic model approach was an outcome-driven rather than activity-based method that employed a linear sequence to develop relationships between programme inputs, outputs and outcomes. This model was used extensively to transfer sustainable, science-based technologies to suppress tephritid fruit fly pests, and served as a "blueprint" for ensuring that programme elements were planned, delivered and executed on a timely basis. The team approach brought enormous success, including six national awards. Systematic, and continuous application of the three tactics (sanitation, GF-120 (spinosad) bait spray, and trapping with lures), resulted in sustained reductions in melon fly and Mediterranean fruit fly populations that in turn led to significant reductions in crop damage and high economic impacts. The programme's success also led to renewed interest in fruit fly programmes in Hawaii, which hopefully will translate into continued opportunities for additional partnerships to reduce the impact of these pests on Hawaiian agriculture.