The Oriental fruit fly has been decimating 300 fruit species in India and in 65 other countries in Asia, Africa and the Americas and is considered to be the most destructive, invasive and widespread of all fruit flies. A revolutionary no-spray, environmentally friendly solution against the Oriental fruit fly (Bactrocera dorsalis) had been made by Biofeed. According to company’s founder and CEO Nimrod Israely, who has a PhD in fruit-fly ecology, Biofeed’s product can protect Indian farmers against fruit flies like the Iron Dome system protects the people of Israel against missiles.
Biofeed’s lures, hung on trees, contain an organic customized mix of food, feeding stimulants and control or therapeutic agents delivered by a patented gravity-controlled fluid release platform. Attracted by the odor, the fly takes a sip and soon dies – without any chemicals reaching the fruit, air or soil.
The launch of Biofeed’s first-in-class attractant for female Oriental fruit flies results from 15 years of development of the core platform and more than a year of development and testing in Israel and Karnataka, India. Mango farmers on four Indian orchards saw an overall decrease of fruit-fly infestation from 95 percent to less than 5%.
Israel does not have the problem of Oriental fruit fly. However, until now there was no solution for this problem. The company took the challenge and chose to focus on India. The company worked with Kempmann Bio-organics in Bangalore to carry out the trial. Headquartered in Kfar Truman, Biofeed sees the future of agriculture in developing countries such as India and China.
Biofeed’s products are used in many Israeli fruit orchards against the Mediterranean fruit fly and other common pests including the Olive fruit fly and the Peach fruit fly (Bactrocera zonata). The company has developed a liquid formula that ‘knows’ how to tie different kinds of smells to other materials, as the need arises. The result is a special ‘decoy’ that draws the target insect through smell. The decoy is slow-released from a device over the course of a year. The insect is drawn to the decoy, feeds off it and dies shortly after.
This is extremely easy to use there is no need of tractors, no need to remember to spray once a week, no need to put oneself in danger with sprays, there’s no safety equipment required. This is something that can make a dramatic change in agriculture and human health.
