ARPHA Preprints, doi: 10.3897/arphapreprints.e103062
Prioritization of quarantine pest list for the Caribbean using a multi criteria decision approach
expand article infoDuraisamy Saravanakumar, Ezra S. Bartholomew§, Govind Seepersad, Janil Gore-Francis |, Juliet Goldsmith, Naitram Ramnanan#, Peta Gaye Chang¤, Puran Bridgemohan«, Renita Sewsaran», Sardis Medrano-Cabral˄, St. Sanya Morrison˅
‡ The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago§ The Bahamas Agricultural Health & Food Safety Authority, Bahamas, Bahamas| National Plant Protection Organization, Antigua, Antigua and Barbuda¶ Caribbean Agricultural Health and Food Safety Agency, Suriname, Suriname# Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International for the Caribbean and Central America, Trinidad and Tobago., St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago¤ Research & Development Division, Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries,, Bodles, Jamaica« Faculty of Bio-Sciences Agriculture and Food Technology, The University of Trinidad and Tobago, Chaguanas, Trinidad and Tobago» United States Department of Agriculture, International Services, St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago˄ Ministry of Agriculture, Dominican Institute of Agriculture and Forestry Research, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic˅ Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Bodles, Jamaica
Open Access
Abstract

Quarantine plant pests are socially, economically and environmentally important due to their impact on food security, human health, global trade, and crop production costs. The increase in global trade and tourism, frequent occurrence of natural disasters and climate changes have exacerbated the rate of entry, establishment and spread of plant pests regionally and globally. It has therefore become exigent to develop a list of pests of quarantine importance at the regional and national levels to prioritize and allocate limited available resources to manage the associated risks. In the present study, the Technical Committee on the Formulation and Prioritization of a Regional Priority Pest List for the Caribbean, in collaboration with the National Plant Protection Organization of the Caribbean countries and the United States Department of Agriculture - Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (USDA-APHIS), developed and prioritized a quarantine pest list using a multi-criteria decision-making approach. The technical committee successfully evolved the process in 2014 and 2018 and developed a list of the top 10 pests of quarantine importance for the Caribbean region, employing the Delphi Technique (DT) and Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) through the assignment of criteria that are relevant to the region. The Mediterranean fruit fly (Ceratitis capitata), frosty pod rot (Moniliophthora roreri) and the tomato leaf miner (Tuta absoluta) listed as top quarantine pest threats were subsequently detected in the region. This exercise guided the authorities in advance to allocate resources and develop response plans including capacity building for surveillance and detection of priority pests. This has demonstrated the significance and appropriateness of the multi-criteria decision approach to determine priority pest lists and prepare the region for development of better management practices.

Keywords
Analytical Hierarchy Process, Delphi Technique, Invasiveness, Quarantine Pest, Economic loss