The Ministry of Agriculture have kickstarted a trapping exercise to eradicate a newly found pest.  The 'Bactocera Dorsalis' or commonly known as the 'Oriental Fruit Fly' was collected from the village area of Tupapa in the Avarua township.  Entemologist Dr. Maja Poeschko collected 20 of the pests during a surveillance exercise and collected another 2 the day after.  Dr. Poeschko alerted the Secretary of Agriculture, Dr. Matairangi Purea who then initiated with all biosecurity and field staff a 'Trapping Exercise' to eradicate the pests.  National Environment Services Island Futures Manager  Joseph Brider along with Environment officer Elizabeth Munro came to support the efforts of the team in the Exercise. Three groups spanned out with a map of the area and those areas within a one kilometre radius from the point of concentration.  Purea adds "we are being proactive with the support of our staff and various ministries to eradicate this pest and will continue to be vigilant in the next 3 - 4 weeks of daily surveillance."  Poeschko says that "it is a very destructive pest of fruits.  The main fruits that are commonly attacked are ripe pawpaw, avacado and mango.  Its hosts are rotting fruit or ripe breadfruit.  Therefore, the staff need to not only lay the traps but also observe the area and collect rotting fruit or ripe fruit to remove the opportunity for the fruit fly to spread."  This comes as a blow to the confidence of the drive to revitalise Agriculture through the export of pawpaw back into New Zealand. Purea says "this is a tough time for us, but i trust our staff and the general public will support us by working alongside us in this operation so that we can continue with our plans for agriculture development.  We have caught it early we hope and will continue to be vigilant in this surveilance of a bad pest of fruits.  Poeschko and the Ministry will be giving out information to the general public on the progress of this operation and have their fingers crossed that this will do the trick for the benefit of the Industry.  For more information - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bactrocera_dorsalis.jpg

The Ministry of Agriculture's trial on growing the popular 'Maire' is slowly paying off with the first half a lei being harvested by the Secretary Dr. Matairangi Purea.  Staff were quick to pose with the small but important feat since the plants were raised in the ministry greenhouse in early March 2013.  "This is a trial we want to run to see the effectiveness of growing Maire in the shadehouse" adds Purea. "We want to show that this can be done and then we can duplicate the process on those islands like Mauke, Atiu and Mangaia to be able to keep growing 'Maire' for export.  Because at this rate they can be easily monitored and looked after properly so that we can get the results that we need all year round.  This is an important achievement for us as it is a $2 million dollar opportunity and yet we are only managing to fufill less than $200 thousand dollars worth currently".  Staff are keeping an eye on the different varieties to ensure that they are looked after and can yield as much as that of the 'wild stock' in the makatea. "this takes the hard work out of accessing these wild Maire stocks and having to walk all over the makatea for a few hours. Im happy that if this works out well, the mamas can and will benefit with a backyard setup so that they can have a steady income stream" Puread adds.  Anyone wanting to come and have a look at the plants are more than welcome and the technical officers are more than willing to help with advice and support. - MoA

Atiu Agriculture Officer Teokotai Pianui has joined Mauke Agriculture officer Colin Matangaro this week at the Ministry of Agriculture for the training work attachment supported by funding through Ministry of Education. Two more new officers from the island of Mangaia will join the duo to make up the final intake of officers to undergo Agricultural training. The training is designed to provide and teach basic agricultural skills as well as looking into livestock skills for when they return back to the outer islands.  Secretary of Agriculture, Matairangi Purea is happy that this has gotten off the ground and that there can be some support given to the outer islands.  - MoA

My name is Colin Tom Matangaro, I am 23 years of age, I came from the Island of Mauke, I have been working for Mauke agriculture for 7 month. I have passion in some areas like planting, sowing seed, helping the customers and building fences for the crops, I am here to take part in this training course and to further my studies, the purpose is to help me understand more informations and knowledge in agriculture. I am willing to achieve more experience in the course, I will provide daily report to you all.