Agriculture Minister, Samantha Marshall, has given the assurance that work to control and eradicate the Giant African Snail will continue.
The invasive pests continue to wreak havoc across the country and their carnage to local vegetation worsens when the pest’s numbers increase rapidly when weather conditions are favourable to their reproduction.
At a town hall meeting at Cedar Grove Primary School on Tuesday, Minister Marshall said the Plant Protection Unit’s plan to reduce the number of snails will resume shortly.
“We’re going to be restarting our collection programme very shortly.
“I think the Plant Protection Division has actually been having a number of sessions with farmers as to how they can make sure they’re able to protect their crops and get rid of these snails,” she said.
The collection programme, introduced approximately five years ago, involves teams who travel to infested communities to gather the Giant African Snails.
The snails are then destroyed, following strict guidelines, after which the snail hunters are compensated financially.
The work of these snail eradication teams is enhanced by the efforts of residents to also reduce the snail population.
“I believe they went a little quiet after we went through a very dry spell and a lot of us just did not see the snails as much. But now that we are getting back into the wet season period and they are coming out, they will be starting very shortly with that whole process,” Marshall said.
A document prepared by the Plant Protection Unit of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Barbuda Affairs in July this year detailed that, “Up to the end of 2021, the Giant African Snail had spread to areas across approximately 70% of Antigua, resulting in crop losses, faecal defacement of property, and increased expenditure due to the application of molluscicides and other compounds to effect control.
“Though several interceptions have been made, the Giant African Snail is not known to have established on Barbuda.
“With the significant level of infestation on Antigua, official control measures have shifted the emphasis from the application of molluscicides (snail and slug bait) as the main control measure to one of physical collection of the snails and their subsequent destruction.
“Ongoing efforts are focused on establishing a concerted and sustained level of public participation in the eradication process using more environmentally-friendly means.”
