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Principles. Crops. Pests. Control methods Library. Links.

Preventive Control

Natural enemies


  1. Braconid


  1. Birds and bats
  2. Ground beetle
  3. Rove beetle
  4. Spider
  5. Weaver ant

Management and cultural practices

  1. Remove fruits with dimples and oozing clear sap. This method is more effective although laborious than picking rotten fruits from the ground as the maggots may have left the fruits to pupate.
  2. Harvest crops early when mature green. This is the stage of maturity when crops are not susceptible to fruit fly attack.
  3. Pick overripe fruits. These are good breeding sites for fruit flies.
  4. Cultivate the topsoil (5-10 cm deep) to expose the pupae to predators, parasites, and direct sunlight.
  5. Practice crop and field sanitation. Collect and destroy fallen and damaged ripe fruits. Do not put collected damaged fruits in compost heaps, instead feed to pigs or poultry, or bury to eliminate all sources of possible breeding sites.
  6. In mango orchards, avoid growing peppers and fleshy gourds as intercrops.