Ants could save fruit and nut farmers in Africa millions of dollars, and help them gain access to lucrative organic food markets.
The African weaver ant is a highly effective predator of fruit flies and other fruit-hungry insects, that routinely destroy fruit crops. While the use of these ants as a form of biological control is not new – Asian fruit farmers have being doing it for centuries – scientists have found a very effective way of rearing them on-farm, by catching the fertilized queens after a swarm. Click to find out more.
