Download and install a free Acrobat Reader if you cannot open the papers
The presence of certain fruit flies in a country can pose a significant barrier to trade in fresh fruits and vegetables. The integrated areawide application of SIT has been used to develop fruit fly-free areas or countries that allow to increase market shares in fresh fruit and vegetable exports. In other countries the driving force for using SIT has been the need to protect and preserve the environment. Integrated use of SIT for purposes of suppression, rather than eradication, can significantly reduce pesticide use, secondary pest outbreaks as a result of insecticides eliminating natural enemies, residues in fruit and vegetables, environmental pollution, and associated costs. The development objective of the IAEA's SIT Programme in fruit fly control is to develop fruit fly free zones that make it possible to expand and identify new market opportunities as well as a mitigating technique for environmental and human health concerns about insecticide use.
SIT or autocidal pest control is a "birth control" method for controlling or eradicating insect pests. It involves the colonization and mass rearing of the target insect species, sterilization through the use of gamma radiation and releasing them into an area on a sustained basis and in sufficient numbers to achieve appropriate sterile to wild insect over-flooding ratios. No offspring results from the mating of the sterile males with fertile wild females which results in reduction of numbers and finally the elimination of the pest population. SIT is not a stand-alone technique and should be applied together with other insect control activities as part of an integrated pest management program.
