Radio Havana Cuba's Science and Technology Program:
BREAKTHROUGHFor broadcast Sunday, 10 October and Thursday, 14 October 1999
Written and narrated by Arnaldo "Arnie" Coro, RHC's Science Editor
Sound: Breakthrough theme music, fades to
Voice: ( Coro ) Hello and welcome to another edition of Breakthrough, Radio Havana Cuba's twice weekly science, technology and the environment update. I am Arnaldo, Arnie, Coro, RHC's science editor and today it's my pleasure to tell you about how cuban agriculture is using biological pest control methods to improve production and reduce pollution.
Among one of the most recent biological control techniques now in widespread use is a new bacteria that, when spread using the specified concentrations, will effectively reduce the population of the so-called cuban ant -- a large-sized insect of the ant family. Cuban fireants are of a very large size, and they cause a lot of damage to the horticulturists, as their caves and galleries are usually very hard to destroy using conventional methods. Pesticides applied to them have little effect, and the usual law of diminishing returns apply in this case, too. That means: the more times you use the pesticide to combat the cuban ants, the more resistant the population becomes to the chemicals.
Of course organic agriculture is one of Cuba's goals, so the horticulturists asked scientists if they could study the problem and perhaps develop some kind of biological control system. After several years of research work, a fully tested commercial product is now available. Tt is made from a bacteria that attacks the ants, producing a highly selective disease that effectively kills them. The bacteria is not harmful to any other animal species or humans, and can be produced in large quantities at one of the many Cuban biological research organizations, using classical methods. The product is applied to the fields infested with the big cuban ants known as BIBIJAGUAS, spreading a granulate around the many caves made by the ants to provide access to their underground galleries and nests. The worker ants take the granulate into the nest, and there the bacteria starts to develop, effectively killing the whole population after a few days. The effects of the product last for several months, and the only thing to watch for is the presence of a new invasion of the ants into the fields, so that another early application will put them under control again.
Farmers devoted to horticulture are not the only ones benefiting from the new biological pest control product -- gardeners devoted to ornamental and flower plants are also using it to preserve their plantations from the cuban ants, a species so ferocious that they can destroy a whole garden overnight, and disappear into their nests before dawn! The new product will be made available for export soon, as similar highly active ants species do a lot of damage in the rest of the Caribbean and Central America too.
SOUND: Breakthrough theme, fades to:
VOICE: ( Coro ) And this was Breakthrough for today, join me next week at the same time and frequency for another edition of this science, technology and environment update. I am Arnaldo, Arnie, Coro, RHC's science editor, now wishing you excellent reception of our next show.
For more information, via Air Mail:
"Breakthrough"
Radio Havana Cuba
PO Box 6240, Havana, CUBA 10600
Via e-mail: arnie@radiohc.org
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