Thermal fogging of stink bug “actively underway” in western Georgia

Authorities in western Georgia’s Zugdidi Municipality are organising “active” efforts of thermal fogging against the brown marmorated stink bug, a source of major disruptions to farmers in recent years, the National Food Agency announced on Wednesday. 

Highlighting measures against the insect in villages of the Municipality were entering an “active phase,” the Agency also noted the process had been started from the areas with higher concentrations of the pest, as observed during earlier monitoring. 

A total of 900 hectares of the territory have already been covered with thermal fog processing in the village of Orsantia, where several units of special equipment have been mobilised, with the state body noting the measures were carried out in “full compliance with safety rules.”

It also stressed the importance of an “active involvement” of the population in the work against the pests, saying the Coordinating Management Centre of the Agency operated a messaging system, providing the population with information about the planned events in advance. 

Lasha Shalamberidze, the Head of the Centre, said along with thermal fogging, “corn masses” would also be processed with cold spraying at a later stage.