RIYADH, 26 April 2007 -- Masa Establishment for Pest Extermination Services -- a leading pest management company -- has teamed up with the Ministry of Agriculture to fight pests -- including blackbirds, crows and red palm weevil -- which are inflicting huge financial losses on the Kingdom's agriculture sector.
Mousaied S. Al-Shieshakly, owner and general manager of Masa, disclosed yesterday the team-up. He said "the move to protect date palms is significant, keeping in view the fact that the Kingdom ranks as the largest producer of dates with 13.5 percent of the total global date yields."
Saudi Arabia, with an annual production of about 700,000 tons from a total of 20 million palm trees, has intensified efforts to promote and export its 400 varieties of high-quality dates to different countries.
Referring to the Red Palm Weevil -- a type of insect -- Al-Shieshakly said "it is a very serious pest to date palms and was first reported near Qatif."
He added that Masa, in cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture, is conducting an efficacy test of a pheromone lure to control the insect.
Al-Shieshakly said senior entomologist Dr. Abdul Rauf, who works for Masa, will be participating in a major symposium on date palms to be held on May 5 at the King Faisal University in Hofuf.
Asked about the efforts of Masa to check pest and bird problems, he said "the company, with the approval of the Saudi government agencies, has introduced bird management in our operations keeping in view the recent blackbird infestation in the Kingdom."
He added that the increase in the green cover will lead to an increase in problems relating to birds, pointing out that blackbirds, popularly known as crows, come from Africa by crossing the Red Sea. He also predicted that the crow population might be evenly distributed among cities and towns across the Kingdom in the foreseeable future.
"But, it seems most likely that the population will be concentrated more in the coastal areas," said the Masa chief, adding that the presence of crows can also cause many diseases. "In fact, the rapid increase in the crow population prompts us to launch an investigation with the help of pest management professionals, ornithologists and ecologists."
Asked about the services of Masa, Shieshakly said that the company strictly follows integrated pest management in all its service operations with a view to safeguard environment and future generations. He added that Masa is a member of 13 international pest management organizations and uses the latest pesticide.
The company has also prepared itself well to cope with problem created by diseases like mad-cow and bird flu. These diseases are the new challenges faced by the pest control industry as many pest problems are also associated with them, Shieshakly said, adding that the company will also be incorporating the latest state-of-the-art termite inspection equipment to become the first company in the Kingdom to include this sort of technology.
By M. Ghazanfar Ali Khan
© Arab News 2007
