Nuclear technology boosts farming in Guatemala, United Nations agencies report. Mediterranean fruit fly curbed

\ United Nations agencies are using sterile insect technology, a nuclear application, to curb the Mediterranean fruit fly population in Guatemala.\ \ Higher sales of tomatoes, bell peppers, and papaya have resulted, while pest control and packing and canning jobs increased in Guatemala, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Food and Agriculture Organization.\ \ ''While prices slumped over the past decade for Guatemala's traditional exports of coffee, banana and sugar cane, sales of tomatoes quadrupled to $10 million in 2010 from $2.5 million in 2007, with export income from bell peppers roughly tripling to $3.2 million in 2010, and papaya doubling, also to $3.2 million,'' the nuclear safety agency said.\ \ Original source: Occupational Health & Safety\ \ \ \