Sending in the wasps is a proven way to kill the cassava mealybugs quickly and effectively. Think of them as a kind of eco-friendly SWAT team. Applying chemicals on such a large scale would be environmental vandalism.
– Tony Bellotti, entomologist at the International Center for Tropical Agriculture in Thailand, on preparations to release a quarter of a million wasps to fight a South American insect that is wreaking havoc on the country's cassava crops. __