New fruit fly threatens export of Kenyan horticultural products to the EU

The Kenyan horticultural sector is wary of the discovery of a new pest that may pose a threat to the country's horticultural exports. The fruit fly, Drosophilia Suzukii, which is native to East and South Asia, was first found on a farm in Longorot, Kenya in March 2019. The presence of this fruit fly comes at an extremely unfortunate time as Europe has tightened its controls on Kenyan products due to the presence of quarantine layers in a number of crops. Benjamin Tito, head of the Horticulture Dictatoriaat: "This plague is of great concern to the horticultural sector because it threatens the soft fruit, cherry, grape and tomato cultivation. The presence of this fruit fly leads to a loss of quality and is a serious problem for the trade in, among others, soft fruit, especially to countries where this pest does not occur. " The pest has also been identified in uncultivated fruits in the vicinity of the Longorot farm. The Directorate says that a company's fruit sold in a supermarket ...