Hon. Abelardo Mai unveiled a plaque at the National Agriculture Showgrounds in Belmopan on February 27th
by Orlando Pulido (freelance writer)
SANTA ELENA TOWN, Cayo District, Sat. Mar. 1, 2025
The International Regional Organization for Health in Agriculture (OIRSA), along with the Resilient Rural Belize Programme (RRB), the Ministry of Economic Development (MED), and the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security and Enterprise (MAFSE), has inaugurated the Biological Control Insectary Expansion Project for Mass Production of Beneficial Insects. Last Thursday, stakeholders unveiled a plaque at the National Agriculture Showgrounds in Belmopan to mark the event.
L-R: Hon. Abelardo Mai, Minister of Agriculture, Food Security and Enterprise; Raul Rodas Suazo, Executive Director of International Regional Organization for Plant and Animal Health OIRSA; Fermin Blanco, Country Representative OIRSA Belize; Servulo Baeza, Chief Executive Officer, Ministry of Agriculture; Dr. Geraldo Flowers, Project Manager of the RRB Resilient Rural Belize Program; Hunter Hales, Green Climate Fund Focal Point in the Ministry of Economic Development
Ms. Hunter Hales, the Green Climate Fund Focal Point in the Ministry of Economic Development, remarked, “Today we are here to celebrate a milestone for sustainable agriculture; we cannot ignore the use of chemical pesticides.”
Raul Rodas Suazo, Executive Director of OIRSA
Present for the occasion was Raul Rodas, the Executive Director of OIRSA. In his speech, Rodas reminded everyone of Belize’s successful control of the pink hibiscus mealybug.
The pink hibiscus mealybug, a notorious pest known for its devastating impact on crops, was first detected in Belize in 1999. Recognizing the urgent need for action, OIRSA, along with partners such as the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture IICA, the Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute CARDI, and USDA/APHIS, mobilized resources to rapidly control and prevent the spread of this pest to other Central American countries. (In 2019, the pink hibiscus mealybug laboratory was restructured to accommodate the production of two natural pest control insects: Trichogramma pretiosum and Chrysoperla carnea (green lacewing)).
In a similar vein, the expansion of the annex insectary laboratory in Belmopan — with an input of $123,000.00 U.S. from the Green Climate Fund — is expected to enable the mass production of Sitotroga cerealella moths. Their eggs will be collected to triple the production of Chrysoperla carnea, a highly effective natural predator of unwanted pests in various crops. Additionally, it will support the production of Trichogramma pretiosum, a tiny parasitic wasp that helps control lepidopteran pests in economically significant crops in Belize and the region.
“This facility has been producing beneficial insects for some time now, but the demand for beneficial insects has increased as the problem with insects arises because of climate change; the demand is high and so we have to rise to the challenge of farmers not only in Belize but in the region,” explained the Hon. Abelardo Mai, Minister of Agriculture.
“We are discouraging the use of insecticides, the irrational use of insecticides, because it is damaging to human health, damaging to our food source, damaging to the environment, and so this new technology of biological control is not new … [it] will contribute to reducing the use of deadly insecticides that are dangerous to human health and [at the same time] will contribute to improving production,” he further said.
Dr. Geraldo Flowers, Project Manager of the RRB Resilient Rural Belize Program
One of the beneficiaries of the insectary laboratory in Belmopan is the Resilient Rural Belize (RRB), which produces vegetables, pineapples, and honey. Its program manager, Dr. Geraldo Flowers, disclosed that white flies have been impeding farmers who produce peppers and lettuce.
Hon. Abelardo Mai, Minister of Agriculture giving a speech
Hon. Abelardo Mai also shared with Amandala his concern over the New World screwworm (NWS) now impacting the South of Belize. Cochliomyia hominivorax is a parasite of mammals. It belongs to the subfamily Chrysomyinae, within the family Calliphoridae of the order Diptera.
The primary way of controlling and eradicating NWS is through the sterile insect technique. According to Fermin Blanco, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is funding the whole program, and “the release of sterile flies [lies] under USDA mandate. Within the USDA is the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), which attempts to ensure that plants and animals are free from pests and disease.
APHIS sterilizes the pupae of the New World screwworm at a facility in Pacora, Panama. At that special laboratory, 5- to 6-day-old NWS pupae are subjected to gamma radiation to create sterile male flies. When mass-produced, the release of these sterile flies results in sterile male flies mating with wild female flies which then lay unfertilized eggs. (Female NWS communicate with the male NWS flies via chemical signals known as pheromones.) Since female NWS flies normally mate only once, the population of NWS is progressively reduced and, ultimately, eradicated.
Hon. Abelardo Mai noted, “Today we are at 17 cases of screwworms. Again, I will say to you that USDA/APHIS has refused to disperse sterile flies over our territory for some strange unknown reason. Every country in Central America has been disbursed sterile flies. APHIS refuses to do so [for Belize].”
However, despite these challenges, Hon. Abelardo Mai has given the assurance that there are technicians from the Belize Agricultural Health Authority (BAHA) and extension officers from the Ministry of Agriculture now in the field trying to contain the cases of NWS. Francisco Guttierez, technical director of plant health at BAHA, maintains that “there is no current technology using biocontrol to fight the screwworm.”
Fermin Blanco, Country Representative OIRSA Belize
Fermin Blanco, Representative of OIRSA in Belize, has urged cattle farmers to treat the wounds of animals “… because only the smell of blood will attract the [NWS] flies”.
The public and stakeholders are encouraged to report cases of suspected (NWS) larval infestations in animals to the BAHA Animal Health Department offices by calling 824-4872 in Central Farm, Cayo; 302-1388 in Orange Walk Town, or via WhatsApp at 670-7003.
With the assistance of the Green Climate Fund, Belize can now look forward to leading in the region with the biological control of pests.