A pitiful settlement only yielded about $1500 per claimant.Ī permanent infestation in Costa Rica would result in estimated annual losses of $1.3 billion and pretty much devastate the country.Īccording to Fresh Fruit Portal Costa Rica exported $743 million in just pineapple alone in 2011, keeping its position as the world’s leading shipper of the fruit the pineapple industry employees 10 of 1000s of workers and pumps millions of dollars into the economy. The use of DDT for agriculture was not banned in Costa Rica until 1988 (in the US it was in 1972) when farm workers exposed to DDT became sterile or had other medical problems and sued. Unfortunately in the past, numerous toxic pesticides (such as DDT) were used to spray fields in defense of the fruit fly and others pests. With said, Costa Rica has taken massive steps to combat any infestation and has established detection procedures so that the pest does not make Costa Rica its home. And back in 1955, the agriculture business was only a fraction of what it is today. It was in 1955 the Mediterranean fruit fly first invaded Costa Rica and did over $2 million in damages, or in today’s dollar, around $20 million. This pest attacks more than 260 different fruits, flowers, vegetables and nuts and causes billions of dollars in damages. The Mediterranean fruit fly, is one of the world’s most destructive fruit pests. Obviously unknown to the photographer, it implicated one of Costa Rica’s worst nightmares is alive, well, and continues to threaten Costa Rica’s multimillion dollar agriculture business. In 2011 National Geographic had a photo contest and ironically one of the winners in the nature category was a picture of a fruit fly resting on a green coffee bean in Monteverde, Costa Rica. Coffee is one of Costa Rica's prime exports A female Mediterranean fruit fly pumps eggs through her ovipositor into the soft outer layers of a ripe coffee berry.
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