Fruit flies are considered the most serious pest of fruits and vegetables in the Asia-Pacific region, and pose a major obstacle to establishing horticultural industries in the region.
Griffith University is committed to researching and implementing pest management and quarantine strategies for horticultural industries. As a result, the University established the International Centre for the Management of Pest Fruit Flies a joint venture fully endorsed by the ASEAN Ministers for Agriculture in August 2003.
Our Headquarters are located at Griffith University (Nathan Campus) in Brisbane, Australia, with a Regional Office hosted by the Malaysian Ministry of Agriculture in Kuala Lumpur. Projects in countries such as Vietnam, Malaysia, Bhutan and Indonesia have highlighted the Centre's mission to work collaboratively with ASEAN to find practical solutions to the region's fruit fly problem.
We provide research and methods that work towards:
- increased food production through prevention of fruit fly attacks that contribute to crop losses
- increased household food security, alleviating nutrition and poverty issues in rural communities
- facilitating export trade through assisting countries to comply with International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures
- collaboration with national quarantine services to install measures that prevent future fruit fly outbreak, as well as introduce early warning systems and emergency response protocols to deal with new outbreaks in a timely manner
- education of personnel in pest management and quarantine strategies.