A field officer removes samples from a screw worm-infested puppy in this 2006 Gleaner photo. File

BILLIONS OF dollars and years of arduous effort by the Government to destroy the screw worm in Jamaica appear to have been wasted as a senior official at the Ministry of Agriculture is now conceding that eradication of the insect that feeds on the living tissue of animals may not be possible any time soon.

Due to a lack of overseas funding for the programme, the ministry has suspended the aerial dispersal of sterile flies used in the eradication exercise.

Permanent secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Donovan Stanberry, told members of the Public Administration and Appropriations Committee of Parliament yesterday that the focus of the project had shifted to ground surveillance and control.

Eradication

"I think we have reached a stage because of the cost of the programme where we frankly have to say to ourselves, we really have to stop talking about eradication, and start focusing on the ground control," he said.

Committee member St Aubyn Bartlett wanted to know whether the eradication of screw worm had hit a snag, following the spending of billions of dollars to get rid of the infestation over the last nine years.

"It is an extremely intractable phenomenon and we have spent quite a bit of funds amounting to billions of dollars," said Stanberry.

The permanent secretary said the ministry was not satisfied with the quality and effectiveness of the sterile flies used in the eradication programme.

Director of the Veterinary Services Division in the ministry, Dr Osbil Watson, said the costly project suffered many setbacks.

He said close to 70 per cent of screw worm cases in Jamaica affected dogs in Kingston and St Andrew, a problem that was exacerbated by the number of stray animals and the reluctance of owners to seek treatment for wounded animals.

Dr Watson revealed that Jamaica was the only country that was unsuccessful in its attempts to use sterile flies for the eradication of screw worm.

"All countries which have implemented this programme have successfully eradicated (the pest)," Dr Watson said, adding that those countries were funded by the United States.

The veterinarian pointed out that Jamaica had approached the United States (US) government for support in its fight against the screw worm problem locally. However, he said: "In terms of our screw worm infestation we are not a threat to mainland US," he said.

edmond.campbell@gleanerjm.com