Several acres of orange trees growing on the Green Produce farm in Claremont, St. Ann. - Ian Allen/Staff Photographer

The Ministry of Agriculture and Lands is moving swiftly to curtail the spread of a new species of butterfly that could destroy the island's citrus industry, which is still recovering from the deadly tristeza virus.

Don McGlashan, chief technical director in the Agriculture Ministry said a task force has been assembled to devise strategies to combat the butterfly which is similar to the "orange dog caterpillar", colourful in appearance and loves to hang around mud puddles.

"What we are really doing at the moment is we are attacking one of the primary sources which is likely to be in the nurseries and we have proposed a nursery protocol which all nurseries are to follow," Mr. McGlashan explained.

Nursery protocol

"What this nursery protocol involves essentially is that you scout your nurseries for signs of the pest - usually the larvae or the caterpillars (and) around the perimeters it is proposed that you erect a three metre or 10 feet high mesh barrier because the (butterfly) doesn't fly higher than that," he explained further.

This method, the chief technical director said, would confine the pest to either inside the infected area or outside as the butterfly normally flies close to the ground. A pesticide or insecticide - usually contact pesticides such as Malathion and Match - would then be applied. He said the area would be quarantined for about four weeks, within the time of the normal life cycle of the pest.

"We maintain the nurseries in quarantine for about four weeks and if there is no sighting of the pest, then that nursery is allowed to offer plants for sale, although just before delivery we would apply the insecticide (or pesticide) on those plants that are being sold," Mr. McGlashan noted.

The Citrus Growers Association - which is the main body representing citrus farmers - has joined too in implementing the nursery protocol. Other certified nurseries are also being encouraged to take the same precautions.

Sightings of the pest have already been reported in the citrus-growing area of Bog Walk, in St. Catherine, and Hounslow, in St. Elizabeth.

Dr. Eric Garraway, butterfly specialist and lecturer in the department of life sciences at the University of the West Indies, Mona, explained that the particular butterfly belonging to the Papiliodemoleus species, is known for island-hopping and could possibly have migrated from Santo Domingo in the Dominica Republic where it is a problem.

Peter McConnell, chairman of the Jamaica Citrus Protection Agency and Chief Executive Officer of Trade Winds Citrus, a major grower of oranges and commercial producer of orange juice, said in an earlier interview that he was not "overly alarmed" about the impact the pest would have on the industry based on the steps being taken to control the situation.