The Minister got acquainted with the measures to fight against Asian Brown Marmorated Stink Bug

The State Representative of Samegrelo Zemo-Svaneti Alexander Motserelia, First Deputy Minister of Environment Protection and Agriculture Giorgi Khanishvili and deputy Head of the National Food Agency Zurab Lipartia met with Municipality mayors, mayor’s representatives in all administrative units and Village attorneys.

During the meeting, the audience was introduced with the viable strategies for control and prevention measures against Brown Marmorated Stink Bug, which are to be carried out by state government this year.

The meeting has been held in question-answer format. As Giorgi Khanishvili marked, it is of vital importance to get the population drawn in the whole course of prevention activities in parallel with the state program, so that they would be actively participating in pest management activities. The best effective is mechanical exclusion method which might reduce the number of pests and combat the devastating bugs in the nearest future.

The State Representative emphasized the crucial significance of pest management activities and noted that the current year the state government would be carrying out larger-scale activities in coordinated cooperation with the local authorities as well as participation of local self-government.

At the workshop it has been also pointed out that if required or needs-based the local farmers could be provided with special topic-related training and some informational booklets be distributed in municipalities to assist the population in proper carrying out of mechanical exclusion.

At the current stage a second round of pest control activities is being undergone throughout the region, which includes the installation of special bug traps alongside the forest line which identifies the pest and detects the exact area. 

Upon the second phase monitoring, the following stink bug control activities will be planned.