by TREVOR YEARWOOD

AFTER THIS YEAR'S DRY SPELL, wet weather may also be bad news for farmers.

A prolonged spell of rain could mean serious trouble for agriculture from the Giant African Snail, according to chief executive officer of the Barbados Agricultural Society (BAS), James Paul.

He issued this warning yesterday while commenting on a report from head of a snail hunt-and-destroy group, David Walrond, that more snails were surfacing in St George now in the face of rainy conditions.

Paul told the DAILY NATION: "I am worried because the snails are prolific breeders and very voracious feeders."

The snails would have been lying low because of the warm weather of the past three months, he added, "but if we face a prolonged wet spell, they will become pretty difficult for everyone, including the farming community, to deal with".

He admitted that the BAS had not received reports of crops being under threat from the snails during the "dry spell", but warned that this situation could change if snails faced ideal living conditions provided by a long period of wet weather.

He said that the BAS board would be meeting soon, and high on its agenda would be how to tackle the snail problem. This includes the possibility of greater co-operation with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development on the distribution
of bait.

Heavy damage

Considering that each year snails were being sighted in new areas of the country and also the heavy damage the pests could cause, "we have to start to get worried", Paul asserted.

And, he pointed out that "all Barbadians" have to co-operate to solve the problem by reporting sightings of snails to the authorities early, moving swiftly to acquire bait, and applying it frequently.

Walrond, chairman of the St George North District Emergency Organisation (DEO), yesterday said that after a lull, people
in several areas of St George had been reporting sightings."I even saw them in an area we baited a number of times before – Old Post Office. The rains have come and the snails are beginning to come out of hiding."

With the DEO now busy preparing for the hurricane season starting June 1, inspecting shelters, drains and potentially dangerous trees, it would need significant assistance to continue with the snail destruction programme, he pointed out.

Meantime, a Mangrove, St Philip resident, Basil Young, has been reporting a heavy snail infestation in his area.

The snails have inhabited a quarter-acre bushy stretch of long-unoccupied land adjoining his property and Young has been laying pellets along the perimeter to keep them at bay.

"I killed over 50last weekend. I put down pellets all along the border and they did the job," he said.
"Sunday morning I found they were all dead up against the fencing. Some were small but others were big."

Young made an appeal to the Ministry of Health to debush the spot and a nearby lot which he described as "the main breeding ground".

* trevoryearwood@nationnews.com