A Simple Introduction to Plant Quarantine

(“SHAAKA NIRODHAYANAYATA

SARALA HENDINWEEMAK”)

A BOOK IN SINHALA AUTHORED BY LIONEL RAJAPAKSE

REVIEWED BY A. BEDGAR PERERA, Retired Director/Agric.Development, Ministry of Agriculture

(Publisher- MaMa PUBLISHING, Colombo – Price Rs.950/-)

A few weeks ago when Lionel Rajapakse phoned me from Australia and asked me to review the above book, I had to oblige despite other work. Lionel and I became good friends over 50 years ago when I was working as a fledgling Agricultural Experimental Officer in the Botany Division of the then Central Agricultural Research Institute (CARI), Gannoruwa, of the Department of Agriculture (DOA). This was during the period, 1970-73 when he was an Agricultural Instructor in the same Division.

I found him to be a devoted, studious and honest officer, with youthful vigour. Predictably, he made the best use of the facilities available at that time and completed his B.Sc (Ag.) degree at the University of Peradeniya. He went up the hierarchy of the DOA to be appointed in 1982 as an Agricultural Officer of the Sri Lanka Agricultural Service (SLAgS). He worked initially at the Plant Protection Service, Gannoruwa when he completed his M.Sc. in Entomology at Texas A & M University, USA in 1993, studying on a government scholarship.

Subsequently, from 1994, he worked at the National Plant Quarantine Service (NPQS), Katunayake, till 1997 when he migrated to Australia looking for a professional career in Plant Quarantine in Australia (the Land of Plenty). Given his qualifications and experience, he was able to join the Alligator Weed Control Project in Victoria as a Technical Officer not long after his arrival. Subsequently in 1998 he joined the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service as a Bio Security Officer and worked in various capacities till 2017 when he retired as acting Food Safety Manager for the North East Region in Queensland

Armed with his qualifications and years of wide professional experience in plant quarantine he took on the challenger of writing possibly the first Sinhala book on this subject. His objective was providing the reader a simple introduction to the subject from a practical point of view. He would have thought that this would be a way of repaying his motherland from which he had gained much from the free education system and professional experience at the DOA though part of his career was overseas.

Since plant quarantine is a scientific subject, it is not possible to write on it without using scientific terminology. But he has tried to minimize technical language and I believe succeeded in doing so, by effectively conveying what he intended through the use of simple words in an easily readable style, Hence even interested lay persons will surely benefit from reading this book.

To start with, the author has skillfully adapted a story titled “OODLES OF BOODLES” by Judy Braus, published in the children’s magazine “Ranger Rick“, in the USA in the 1990s to illustrate the risks and possible dangers of willfully shifting plants and animals to totally new environments through different means. This highlights the role plant quarantine plays in mitigating resulting adverse effects.

Other nuggets in the following chapter include the derivation of the word ‘quarantine,’ a breakaway from the Latin word ‘Quarantum’ meaning 40. This was actually the number of days that then migrants to Venice from countries where fatal bubonic and yellow fever raged were required to stay on board their ships pending disembarkation to prevent the spread of infection. This actually marked the beginning of the concept of quarantine.

In this chapter, the author cites the case of how in the 1840s, fungal diseases like, Powdery Mildew and Downey Mildew infected grapes cultivated in Europe, through import of planting material from the USA. When varieties resistant to the above fungi were imported again from the USA, the plant pest Phylloxera had been introduced. In turn when planting material and mother plants of varieties resistant to Phylloxera were introduced to Europe, fungal diseases like Black Rot had arrived and the total grape cultivation in France had been wiped out in the late 19^th century.

The author cites that during the period 1880-85, 2.5 million acres of grape cultivation had been destroyed in France due to Phylloxera alone. Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) too has had a similar experience in the 1800s when coffee rust caused by the fungus Hemileia vastatrix destroyed the then well-established coffee cultivation in the highlands within 10 years. This disease was probably introduced from East Africa, the author says.

Episodes like these and many others cited by the author ultimately led to the enactment of legislation by different countries, initially to ban import of planting material and in 1873, Germany led the way by bringing in laws to ban import of seed potato tubers from the USA to prevent the introduction of Colorado Potato Beetle (Leptinotarsa decemiliniata). In 1909, the British colonizers had introduced in then Ceylon, legislation to prevent the spread of the invasive Water Hyacinth (‘Japan Jabara’) plant. As early as 1924, the more comprehensive Plant Protection Ordinance followed.

Subsequently with the intention of implementing plant quarantine legislation on an international level, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations (UN) introduced the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) and the author highlights that Sri Lanka was among the first three countries that ratified this Convention. A number of international developments by way of conventions, applicable standards and legislation, subsequently brought in, have been dealt with in this book.

The author also discusses the natural spread of living organisms, means by which organisms could migrate from one country to another, and Regulations to prevent the introduction of pests. He also covers methods being adopted to prevent introduction of pests. viz. import ban, allowing conditional imports, liberalization of imports with proper certification etc.

As a good example effective plant quarantine, the author cites Australia which enjoys a high reputation worldwide regarding its Plant Quarantine Service. As agriculture plays an important role in the economy of Australia, the central and provincial governments together ensure the country wide implementation of internationally accepted plant protection/biosecurity services with strict adherence to the Bio Security Act of 2015. This succeeded the Quarantine Act of 1908. (As an example of Australia’s success in Biosecurity, the author cites the case of the Giant African Snail, which has not yet been established in Australia even though it is widely prevalent in Papua New Guinea, which is just 150 kilometers away from the coast.)

The author has illustrated with photographs and descriptions, a number of pests and weeds that had spread to Sri Lanka from ther contries through human intervention. These include Giant African Snail (Lissachatina fulica) from East Africa, Coconut Leaf Mining Beetle (Promecotheca cumingii) originally reported from the Philippines, White Fly (Aleurodicus dispersus), Papaya Mealy Bug (Paracoccus marginatus), Japan Jabara (Eichhornia crassipes). The last was reportedly introduced to Sri Lanka in the early 1900s as an ornamental plant due to its beautiful flowers. Similarly, Salvinia (Salvinia molesta) originally reported from South America was introduced to Sri Lanka in the 1930s when it was brought in for studies at the then University of Ceylon. Lantana (Lantana camara), originally reported from South America, was introduced through the Royal Botanic Gardens and is now an invasive weed. Giant Mimosa (Mimosa pigra), reported in Sri Lanka in the 1980s on the banks of the Mahaweli river spreads out far and wide by floating in rivers/water ways and via animals.

The author rightly points out that the foregoing are only a few of the introduced pests that have established in Sri Lanka and that over and above these few, there are a larger number of pests (and diseases) that have entered the country and have got widely established here, damaging both agriculture and the environment significantly. Unfortunately the focus of Sri Lanka continues to be on studies and other measures on controlling these pests and diseases with much less attention towards preventing the entry of pests and diseases. In this context he emphasizes that Sri Lanka by nature is blessed to be an island surrounded right round by sea and should ideally make use of this advantage to protect the prevalent environment rich with bio diversity and the agriculture industry which is the country’s life blood, from foreign pests and diseases, through the effective implementation of strict plant quarantine regulations and measures.

The Plant Protection Act No. 35 of 1999, now in force and Gazette Extraordinary No. 165/2 of Nov. 2, 1981 listing Regulations under the then Plant Protection Ordinance are included as annexures to the book.

I strongly feel that this book will be of much use to undergraduates in Agriculture, practitioners of agriculture, exporters of fruits, vegetables, flowers and other agricultural products, importers of seed and planting material and any others with relevant interest as it will be an easy reference tool for information on plant quarantine.

In conclusion, let me congratulate my good friend Lionel for taking the challenge to author this first ever book on plant quarantine written in Sinhala. I am sure it will interest a wide readership here. I wish my friend a well earned retirement in the years ahead.

(For any information on the book, the author may be contacted through WhatsApp +61 403 448 707 or email < lrajapakse@hotmail.com>)

{Sent via email<bedgarperera@gmail.com>}