Wageningen UR Plant Research International is collaborating with the TASTE Foundation and several Latin American universities and agricultural organisations on the biological control of the red rust thrips for organic producers in Peru, Ecuador and the Dominican Republic. The tiny insects leave red spots when they feed on the banana fruit and female flowers. Even though the problem is purely cosmetic, affected bunches cannot be exported since supermarkets won't buy them. The main strategy the scientists are working on involves luring the insects in a pheromone trap, where they will be exposed to a deadly fungus with which they will contaminate their conspecifics.
