EC-CARIFORUM Caribbean Agriculture and Fisheries Programme
Integrated Pest Management Project Successfully Conducts
Workshop on Management of Papaya Mealybug

Background
Agriculture technicians from Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Suriname and Trinidad & Tobago recently participated in a three-day regional training workshop on the Management of the Papaya Mealybug. This workshop was conducted from 23-25 October 2002 in San Juan, Puerto Rico as one of the initiatives of the Caribbean Agriculture and Fisheries Programme - Integrated Pest Management Project.

The Integrated Pest Management Project encompasses specialist activities which are financed by the European Union through the Caribbean Agriculture and Fisheries Programme (CAFP). CAFP is a Euro 22.2 million CARIFORUM initiative aimed at strengthening the economies of member states by enhancing the contribution of the agriculture and fisheries sectors.

CAB International was contracted to spearhead the implementation of this workshop. Given the specific nature of the material, the workshop was executed in close collaboration with the United States Department of Agriculture, APHIS/ PPQ and the Department of Agriculture in Puerto Rico.

Papaya Mealybug, Paracoccus marginatus, is another pest recently introduced to many countries in the Caribbean region. It shares some important hosts with the Hibiscus Mealybug and may show very similar symptoms leading to confusion in identification between these two pests. If left unmanaged, this pest has the potential to cause serious plant injury and death to commercial crops such as papaya and cassava.

Unlike the Hibiscus Mealybug, where biological control programmes have been implemented in several countries, similar programmes for the management of the Papaya Mealybug have only been established in the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico with assistance from the USDA-APHIS.

Workshop Details
The focus of this regional workshop was on the identification and management of the Papaya Mealybug with special emphasis on rearing of natural enemies. Also explored at the workshop were the options for the ideal combination of parasitoids for introduction. Participants were afforded the opportunity to visit and study the rearing facilities located at the Department of Agriculture laboratories in Santurce, San Juan. The facilities in Puerto Rico are now fully dedicated to the rearing of the complex of parasitoids of the Papaya Mealybug for other countries, such as Guam where the pest is now being managed.

Parasitoids used to manage infestations of the Papaya Mealybug are shown below:

Resource Persons
A high-powered team of resource persons were on hand to provide support to this training workshop. Leading the team of resource persons was Dr. Moses Kairo (CAB International), with Dr. Gene Pollard (FAO), Drs Dale Meyerdirk, Doug Miller and Mike Gates of the USDA Agricultural Research Service and Dr. Lilory Mc Comie of the Ministry of Agriculture, Land and Marine Resources of Trinidad and Tobago. In addition, the staff of the Department of Agriculture of Puerto Rico provided tremendous support in the area of rearing the Mealybug and its natural enemies.

Output
Through this training workshop, participating technicians developed the skills to identify the Papaya Mealybug and its natural enemies, and are now in a position to introduce, rear and release natural enemies for long term sustainable management of the pest.

Infected Caribbean countries include Antigua, Barbados, Belize, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Montserrat, Puerto Rico, St Kitts & Nevis, St Lucia and the US Virgin Islands. This pest has also been reported from Florida in the US, Mexico, Costa Rica and Guatemala, as shown in this map.

For Further Information
1. Final report on the Papaya Mealybug Workshop
2. PROCICARIBE News - Issue #12, December 2002, Page 4.
3. Web site of the Caribbean Agriculture and Fisheries Programme (CAPF)

Acknowledgements
The following persons are acknowledged for providing photographs:
1. Aixa Ramirez, Puerto Rico Department of Agriculture.
2. Moses Kairo, CAB International.
3. Lilory Mc Comie, Ministry of Agriculture, Trinidad & Tobago.
4. Petal Ram, Ministry of Agriculture, Trinidad & Tobago.
5. Wayne De Chi, Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture.