Could odours be the solution to blackfly control?

The Yaounde Initiative Foundation has been carrying out field research in Cameroon in collaboration with the UK-based Natural Resources Institute (NRI) to see whether natural odours might be the key to cheaper and more environmentally safe blackfly control. Inaki Tirados of NRI and YIF staff put people and cattle into different tents, sucked out the odours, and measured how much they attracted blackflies. If the trials show a strong attraction, it might be possible to copy the Tsetse fly control method where insecticide is only sprayed onto targets, rather than sprayed over large areas, and the odours are used to attract blackflies to the targets. When the fly lands on a target it is killed.

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