Friday, as part of the High Level Joint Bilateral Commission https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-13488-haiti-politic-a-joint-bilateral-meeting-successful-and-promising.html , Fresner Dorcin, the Minister of Agriculture and his Dominican counterpart Angel Estevez have agreed to fight together against the Mediterranean fruit fly [Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann)], which has affected the Dominican exports of fruits and vegetables. The Minister Brutus stated that the agriculture ministers of the two countries were working together to achieve in the coming days "positive results" on this subject.

Recall that on March 10, the presence of the "Mediterranean Fly" was found in an agricultural area (mainly devoted to the cultivation of sugar cane and pasture for livestock), close to the Punta Cana airport Dominican Republic. On 18 March, the United States limited the entry of fruits and vegetables from the Dominican Republic to prevent the spread of the parasitic fly. March 20, Haiti declared the temporary ban on fruit and vegetables from the neighboring Republic https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-13429-haiti-flash-ban-on-imports-of-fruit-and-vegetables-dominicans.html

To address this situation, the Ministers of Agriculture Haitian and Dominican, formed a technical committee to monitor the work and progress.

The Minister Estevez indicated that the protocol of the experts from the US Department of Agriculture was applied to the letter, the staff, equipment was doubled as well as the traps that have been recommended to eradicate the fly was made available on the ground. He also announced that a 22-km cordon was set up around the area. A brigade of more than 100 people, including technicians (Dominican and American) working in the infected area.

The Minister Fresner Dorcin, visited the day before the area with the technicians of his ministry, recognized the need to work together to deal with this kind of scourge that "has no boundaries, no nationality, no color, no country," and confirmed the making available to the Dominican Republic, of the experience of technicians of his Ministry, in this type of sanitary controls.

SL/ HaitiLibre