Jamaica is the primary Caribbean nation to make use of Good Traps within the surveillance and monitoring of bugs that might influence native crops.
First put in in November final 12 months, the acquisition of 125 Good Traps was executed by way of a partnership between the Jamaica Social Funding Fund (JSIF) and the Plant Quarantine and Produce Inspection (PQPI) Department of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining.
Up to now, 95 per cent of the traps, which had been sourced from Slovenia, have been put in.
There are two sorts of traps; one focusing on the Medfly and the opposite the Tomato Leafminer.
Identifier/Entomologist within the PQPI Unit in Kingston, Karen Barrett Christie, advised JIS Information that the sensible traps are much more superior than conventional paper traps.
“They’ve cameras and sensors connected and so they can provide us climate knowledge. They provide us extra, in order that as a Ministry, we are able to now be extra focused within the issues that we are able to do with the data that we acquire from these sensible traps,” she mentioned.
Mrs. Barrett Christie mentioned earlier than the traps had been put in, the staff from Trapview, the supply firm in Slovenia, partnered with the Unit to coach Jamaicans remotely, on tips on how to use them.
“Then they bodily got here to Jamaica to do additional coaching on tips on how to arrange the traps and to grasp our connectivity as a result of the entice does use a chip, in order that they needed to perceive if they might get islandwide protection when it comes to our 4G or 5G community. They assisted us additionally with establishing the apps, in order that we are able to view the traps remotely from our smartphones,” she mentioned.
Although the Medfly and Tomato Leafminer are presently not in Jamaica, their influence will be devastating.
For this reason the PQPI Department, in partnership with JSIF, has moved to strengthen surveillance actions and safeguard the agricultural sector.
“One of many bugs – specifically the Medfly – is a really devastating pest. It has about 300 hundred host vegetation and if or once we get this pest in Jamaica, it’ll be very devastating to our agriculture. The second pest we’re monitoring for is the Tomato Leafminer. One of many issues is that the Leafminer is already within the area, so it’s current in Trinidad and Tobago, and in Haiti,” Mrs. Barrett Christie mentioned.
Ought to both of those pests enter the island, improved monitoring by way of the presence of the traps will improve the chance of early detection and improved pest administration.
“We might be capable to inform our farmers, put our emergency response plans in place after which be capable to act swiftly as soon as the pests come into the nation. That is without doubt one of the advantages of getting these sensible traps,” Mrs. Barrett Christie mentioned.
“We have now began with Medfly and Tomato Leafminer as a result of these are excessive priorities for us. However we hope with different collaborations with different companies, we can do additional surveillance actions and use different traps,” she added.
