Fruit Flies: Solutions to Food Crop Losses and Opportunities for Business Development

Fruit flies are the major insect pests of fruit and vegetable production, worldwide. In developing countries, fruit crop losses are so large that they contribute significantly to reduced household food security, poor human nutrition and poverty. In addition to the direct crop losses, many countries lose export trade opportunities if they have major pest fruit fly species, while others spend considerable sums on quarantine detection and eradication procedures in order to remain free of fruit fly. Indeed, fruit flies rate with some of the major animal diseases in terms of economic losses and quarantine problems.