The Secretariat of Agriculture and Rural Development of Mexico activated the National Plant Health Emergency Device (DNE), in order to eradicate an outbreak of the Mediterranean fly Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann) that occurred in the territory of Chiapas, and prevent its dissemination to other entities in the country.

With the agreement published in the Official Gazette of the Federation (DOF), the federal agency intensifies emergency phytosanitary actions, with the objective that Mexico maintains the status of a country free of this pest that affects the cultivation, mobilization and commercialization of more than 250 fruit and vegetable species.

As of the publication of the device, the National Service for Agrifood Health, Safety and Quality (Senasica) strengthens the mandatory actions of control and eradication of the transitory inflows of the plague in a radial area of ​​7.2 kilometers around the outbreak.

In the eradication of the plague, Senasica applies chemical, mechanical and biological control methods, by spraying selective baits on land and in the air; collection and destruction of the fruits in the quarantined area and release of sterile flies in aerial form until achieving the eradication of the plague.

To combat the fly, through ground and aerial sprays, Senasica uses spinosad, a product authorized for the production of organic food and is friendly to the environment and human and animal health.

In the same way, it activates the control of the movement of plant products that host the fly that originate, are packed, stored or that pass through the quarantined area that consists of 35 municipalities, in a sector of 7.2 kilometers.

The municipalities regulated by the presence of the plague are: Amatenango de la Frontera, Ángel Albino Corzo, Bejucal de Ocampo, Bella Vista, Benemérito de Las Américas, Cacahoatán, Capitán Luis Ángel Vidal, Chicomuselo, Comitán de Domínguez, El Porvenir, Escuintla, Frontera Comalapa, Huehuetán, Huixtla, La Concordia and La Grandeza.

Also, La Independencia, La Trinitaria, Las Margaritas, Las Rosas, Mapstepec, Maravilla Tenejapa, Marqués de Comillas, Mazapa de Madero, Montecristo de Guerrero, Motozintla, Ocosingo, Siltepec, Socoltenango, Tapachula, Tuzantán, Tzimol, Unión Juárez, Venustiano Carranza and Villa Comaltitlán.

In order to prevent the spread of the Mediterranean fly, the following fruits may not leave the quarantined area: apple, apricot, cherry, date, eggplant, fig, grape, grapefruit, lime, mango, orange, olive, papaya, peach, chili, persimmon, plum, pomegranate, tomato, tuna, pear, nectarine, cucumber, coffee cherry, guava, custard apple, tangerine, sour orange, grapefruit, calamondin, citron, lychee, rose apple, kaki, medlar, macadamia, red custard apple and white, star apple, quince, hawthorn, sapote, carambola, kiwi, melon, avocado, raspberry, white or matasano sapote, chicozapote, mandarin lemon and almond, among others.

The Department of Agriculture, in cooperation with the Auxiliary Organisms of Plant Health and the Government of Chiapas, installed 13 Internal Verification Points (PVI) for the confinement of the plague: Las Rosas, Quija, La Trinitaria, Huixtla, Pujilitic, Mexican Revolution , Paraíso, Cinco Cerros, Malpasito, Nachig, Chactoj, Catazajá and Puerto Cate.

The agreement indicates that during the emergency, the Ministry of Agriculture, through Senasica, can establish the points it deems necessary in the highway access sites to the quarantined area.

In the PVI it is verified that all commercial shipments of fruits are accompanied by the Phytosanitary Certificate of National Mobilization, Phytosanitary Certificate for Import or International Phytosanitary Certificate for export, as appropriate, in order to guarantee that they are free of the plague.

The shipments of fruits regulated in the agreement, must be mobilized in closed or enlonados transports. Officials have the power to sample, return and destroy the regulated fruits, when they represent phytosanitary risks associated with the Mediterranean fly.

Likewise, public transportation of passengers and cargo is inspected; as well as private vehicles, to verify that they do not transport fruits susceptible to being affected by the plague.

The bags, packages and backpacks that all persons who enter Mexico through Chiapas carry with them will be inspected and, in the event that Senasica officials find host fruits of the Mediterranean fly, they will be retained and destroyed.

Agriculture implements the DNE when the presence of exotic pests of quarantine importance that endanger one or several plant species is detected, in targeted sites of the national territory.