U.N. agency plan targets pests and plant diseases

A U-N agency has come up with new ways to help eradicate plant diseases and pests which are introduced to new environments.

According to  the U-N Food Agriculture Organization, an estimated 10-to-16 per cent of the global harvest is lost to plant pests each year — a loss estimated at 220-billion, dollars U-S.

Experts call crop pests “dangerous hitchhikers” which can wreak havoc by jumping borders through trade in infected fruits, crops, seeds and even ornamental plants.

New measures include a stronger standard for the use of heat vapour to kill oriental fruit flies — a technique which kills 99.98 per cent of the bug’s eggs and larvae.