One male fruit fly was found in a trap in Whangarei, near the port. New Zealand has an international reputation for having no fruit fly. Other countries will not buy our fruit and vegetables if we have a fruit fly problem. Queensland in Australia has fruit fly and we are careful about imports from Queensland.
However, one male fruit fly is not yet a major problem. The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) is responsible for bio-security. Staff at the MPI have set up 20 or 30 traps in a 200m radius from where that fruit fly was found. They hope the traps will stay empty.
In the meantime, growers cannot sell their fruit and vegetables outside that area. Nobody can take fruit or vegetables out of that area.
MPI have about 7,500 traps around the country and staff check these traps regularly. In 2012, a male fruit fly was found in Auckland. Listen to May 11th 2012 to hear what happened in Auckland at that time.
Vocabulary
- reputation – we are famous for having no fruit fly
- MPI – Primary industries are industries which are not made in a factory; agriculture, horticulture (growing plants) and forestry are our main primary industries
- MPI is responsible for – it’s their job
- bio-security – (bio – life, living things), making sure our plants, animals and humans are safe from disease
- radius of a circle – half the diameter, half the distance across a circle
No more fruit flies have been found. Growers are now allowed to sell their fruit and vegetables anywhere they want to.