The federal government will strengthen its fight against the screwworm in cattle by importing up to 110 million sterile flies, nine months after the United States closed the border to Mexican cattle due to the reappearance of this pest, reported the National Service for Agrifood Health, Safety and Quality (Senasica).
To this end, the agency launched a tender for customs clearance services for the daily import of Mediterranean fruit fly eggs from Guatemala and the weekly import of sterile screwworm pupae from Panama. These will be distributed to various locations throughout the country for controlled dispersal.
The contract was awarded to Agencias Aduanales Arjo S.A. de C.V. for 9,487,000 pesos and includes the reception of the biological material at strategic airports in Chiapas, as well as customs clearance services, even on weekends and holidays, according to the operational needs of the health program.
The importation of sterile flies is part of a strategy to disrupt the reproductive cycle of the screwworm, whose presence has severely affected the national livestock sector since May of last year, when the United States suspended imports of live cattle from Mexico.
According to estimates from the livestock sector, the economic impact of the border closure exceeds 15 billion pesos. Federal authorities are confident that strengthening these efforts, along with the commissioning of a sterile fly production plant in Chiapas during the first half of the year, will allow progress toward eradicating the pest and reopening the U.S. market.
Source: elmanana
