imported bugs.

Ladybirds and wasps from India and Egypt will reduce whiteflies which attack fruit and vegetables in local fields.

And agricultural experts are convinced the foreign worker bugs will only attack the whiteflies.

The bug experiment is part of a major scheme to improve yields and quality of crops in Bermuda's diminishing agricultural fields.

Environment Minister the Hon. Gerald Simons put on his Agriculture hat yesterday to visit the Trimingham Hill Research Plot, in Paget.

Mr. Simons stressed the importance of agriculture to the Island and just how much importance is attached to the work being carried out in Trimingham Hill.

Assistant Director of Agriculture (Designate) Mr. Kevin Monkman and Agricultural Officer Mr. Fred Harper control the work on the plot.

Mr. Harper started in January, bringing 20 years experience of working on similar projects.

The Minister said: "One of the roles of the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Parks is to carry out research to find plants suitable for Bermuda.

"Experiments must be done to find the best vegetables and fruit to deal with the soil, climate, salt, disease and insects. Research like this is being done all over the world.'' Hence the introduction of the Catana ladybird and Eretmucerus wasp from India and the Encarsia Formosa wasp from Egypt.

Mr. Harper said: "Whiteflies have caused the most serious insect problems for the Island's farmers in recent years.'' Mr. Monkman added: "The whitefly has been around since 1900 and became a pest in 1986 when it developed a resistance to most of the chemicals we were using.

"It attacks tomatoes, zucchini, pumpkins, squash and peppers, a large percentage of the produce grown in Bermuda.

"We imported the ladybird beetle which is a whitefly predator and the parasite wasps. All are obligate which means they only attack whiteflies. We will not have the historic problems like we had with the kiskadee and the bullfrog which proved more of a problem than the problems they had been introduced to control.'' On a three-year contract, Mr. Harper said the idea was to lessen the use of dangerous chemicals moving over to organic fertilisers and pest sprays.

Agriculture and Fisheries director Mr. John Barnes said farmers were keen to get involved and had offered the use of fields where larger studies were needed to follow up on successes in the small plot.

The Minister said: "There are a number of reasons why Bermuda supports agriculture firstly because it provides fresh vegetables.

"It provides an activity and a job opportunity for young Bermudians as well as the aesthetic aspect of having agricultural areas on the Island.'' PROBLEM SOLVER -- Agricultural Officer Mr. Fred Harper explains the pest problem to Environment Minister the Hon. Gerald Simons.