Jamaica bringing in beetles to fight crop destroyers
Authorities in Jamaica said Monday thousands of ladybug beetles imported from Trinidad & Tobago have been released to combat an infestation of mealybugs that threaten crops on the island and throughout the Caribbean.
Working in concert with Trinidad & Tobago's Ministry of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the beetles have been released under controlled conditions in farming communities. The use of beetles follows a distribution of a tiny species of parasite wasps that kill the mealybugs by laying larvae inside the pests and killing them internally.
The mealybugs are an island-hopping pest that was first discovered in the Caribbean in June, according to a statement from government's Jamaica Information Service.
Jamaica bringing in beetles to fight crop destroyers
