Whitefly destroying mango crops in Casamance

Amadou Badji is a local farmer in Senegal’s southern Casamance region. Like many here, he had to give up his fields of groundnuts, watermelons and millet when conflict broke out more than 20 years ago between separatist rebels and the government, leaving the land sewn with landmines instead.

Badji eventually found an alternative: mangoes. By tending a two-hectare orchard he has been able to support his family.

But now that income is under threat as well.

The whitefly, a tiny, nearly transparent insect with white wings has infested the region’s mangoes.

“Once again, this year, I’ll hardly be able to sell any of my mangoes,” he said. “The entire crop has been ravaged by the whitefly.”

He said it was the third year running that the insect has taken its toll on his harvest.

Infestation threatens livelihoods

The reoccurrence of the whitefly, or Ceratitis cosyra, in this fertile area has put a growing strain on the many farmers who rely on mango cultivation for their livelihood.

“This situation will be hard on all farmers, especially when it comes to the Keitt and Kent mangoes that have a high value on the market,” said Badji. “They remained our only hope for avoiding starvation in the small villages, especially during the time between crops.”

The main source of income for rural mango farmers has come from the cultivation of Keitt, Kent and Palmer mangoes. These sweet, fleshy varieties are the most popular on the market and the fact that they ripen off the tree makes them less perishable, allowing farmers to sell them for an extended period.

The other advantage is that they grow during the rainy season, from the end of July into September, a poor time for harvesting crops. According to Badji, these mangoes prevent thousands of families from going hungry during that period.

“Since we abandoned our fields because of the landmines, our revenues have come from the sale of the Kent and Keitt mangoes. Now that these are being destroyed, we are risking famine,” said Amadou Sane, president of the farmers’ association for the borough of Byassia, 18 km west of Ziguinchor, the main city in Casamance.

“On average, I used to sell 10 tonnes of mangoes, but this year, I barely got one. This only brings in about 150, 000 CFA (US $290). That’s not enough to last me through the rainy season,” he said. “My children risk starvation and I won’t be able to pay their school fees this year.”

Landing Diedhiou is doing the best he can with what remains of his crops. He has traveled to Ziguinchor from his village, Medina, 13 km west of the city, to try to sell the few mangoes that he was able to salvage from the thousands that have rotted.

“Normally, I sell 20 tonnes of the Kent mangoes. Last year, I only sold seven, and this year I’ll be lucky if I even reach three tonnes,” he said.

Fighting the scourge

Sekou Diatta, who is with the government’s local office for the protection of plant life, said that the only way to deal with the problem in the short-term is to bury the infested fruit to curb the spread of the flies.

Other say a more permanent solution involves trapping the flies. Diatta said that this requires a deeper understanding of the life cycle of the flies themselves. He explained that the female pierces the mango and lays her eggs in the ripening fruit. The eggs take two to four days to hatch, releasing small white maggots that cause the fruit to rot and fall from the branches.

It is during this time that the flies need to be trapped, by confining the infested mangoes while still on the tree. If not trapped at this time, once the infested mango reaches the ground, the maggots bury themselves in the soil to finish maturing and will then emerge to restart the cycle, killing off more fruit.

A joint study done by the Bureau for the Protection of Vegetation of Dakar and APRAN/SDP, a Casamance NGO specialising in agriculture, showed that each mango tree is attacked by 300 whiteflies every week and that these numbers need to be reduced to only 25 to prevent mango losses from impacting on the revenue of growers.

Searching for solutions

“Nothing is being done for us,” said farmer Diedhou. “An emergency plan needs to be put in place like the one that was created in the north of the country two years ago when locusts attacked the crops,” he said, referring to joint efforts between the government of Senegal and international organisations to eradicate a locust infestation in 2004.

Some fear that the whitefly problem could spread beyond the mango orchards.

“This fly also attacks guavas, watermelons, citrus fruit, avocadoes, soursop, passionflower and apples,” said Demba Keita, secretary general of APRAN/SDP. He said it also threatens a project launched by the NGO Care Canada to open a plant to produce fruit juice from over-ripe mangoes, which would provide employment in the region.

Mame Mousse Gueye, president of the regional farmers’ association, said another concern for local producers is an influx of mangoes from neighbouring Mali on the Senegalese market. Due to the whitefly, he fears that mango producers in the Casamance will be unable to compete with the quality and price of the imported fruit.

For the government’s part, Agriculture Minister Farba Senghor announced last week while on a visit to Ziguinchor that Brazil had offered to help find a solution to the whitefly infestation.

Keita said he hopes to organise a seminar in September that would bring together all interested parties to help draft a solution to the whitefly problem.

“At a time when the government of Senegal and its partners in development are making huge efforts to re-launch the economy in the Casamance, which has been plagued by 24 years of conflict, we can’t allow this parasite to stifle our hopes,” Keita said.

mad/kdd/cs