BOGOR, Indonesia (AP) — They are the size of a pinhead and don’t even pack a sting, but these tiny wasps are cold-blooded killers nonetheless. They work as nature’s SWAT team, neutralizing a pest that threatens to destroy one of the developing world’s most important staple foods: cassava.
The wasps are being released in Indonesia, the latest country threatened by the mealybug. It’s a white insect shaped like a pill that’s making its way across Southeast Asia.
But unlike in Thailand, where infestations reached some 618,000 acres of crops grown mostly as part of the country’s huge export business, cassava in Indonesia is a vital food source.
Today, scientists will put 2,000 wasps into a holding cage at an affected field in Bogor, on the outskirts of Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta. They will be monitored to see how well they handle local conditions as they multiply to an expected 300,000 before being released into the wild to start their relentless killing spree.
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