The Middle East’s Fruitful Valley - Bioflies  Published Date: 5
April 2007  © IAEA A bag of 7000 sterile Medflies, produced in
the factory known commercially as Biofly. Set on a Kibbutz in
Beit Shean, Israel, the factory is a mass breeding and rearing
factory for the flies. From these Medfly pupae, adult flies will
emerge.  They will then be released in Jordan and Israel's
shared Arava Valley.  The Medflies are commercially bred for
birth control; their mating yields no offspring. If left to
multiply in the wild, Medflies wreak havoc on citrus and other
fruit.  The female attacks ripening fruits and vegetables by
piercing the skin and laying its eggs inside. Fly eggs are
"seeded" in trays filled with food for the larvae to feast on.
This batch of eggs, sprayed onto white tissue paper, is wheeled
to the larvae room for hatching. Millions of larvae squirm in
feeding trays.  The mesh netting encloses the maggots, as they
jump and fall into trays where they are collected. The jumping
maggots develop into pupae a