AGRICULTURE MINISTER, Roger Clarke says the National Screw worm Eradication Programme (NSEP) has failed meet its target over a three-year period.
"While cases of infestation have been drastically reduced in some areas, the project has so far not been able to eradicate the screw worm pest from Jamaica," Minister Clarke said.
He was speaking at the launch of phase two of the NSEP at the Jamaica Conference Centre in downtown Kingston on July 15.
The agriculture minister cited several factors which he said impacted on the programme, among them bad weather conditions, which prevented the aerial dispersal of sterile flies, industrial problems at the sterile production facility in Mexico and changes in the value of the Jamaican dollar, which "significantly", changed the project's funding requirements.
Notwithstanding those developments, he said, since the launch of the programme in 1998 there have been achievements.
According to the Minister 4.6 billion sterile screw worm flies have been released over the island as a major part of the eradication effort. In June 1999, 245 samples of screw worm were collected compared to 140 for the same period this year. Eastern parishes recorded the sharpest reduction while "the situation looks encouraging in the western parishes." The number of cases in central parishes have also been trending downwards, the agriculture minister said.
The International Atomic Energy Agency and the United States of Department of Agriculture provide technical and financial assistance for the US$9 million eradication programme.
It is estimated that prior to the launch of the NSEP, the agricultural sector was losing an average US$7 million per year.
By March 2005, at the end of the programme, Jamaica should be declared screw worm free.
