Dr. Andrew Hewitt, an expert on aerial spraying of fungicide and drift, is in town to help the Fertilizer and Pesticide Authority (FPA) and the Department of Agriculture (DA) formulate guidelines for a study on the impact of aerial spraying in banana plantations in Mindanao.

Hewitt was invited by the FPA to help the newly-formed FPA-DA Task Force on Aerial Spraying in conducting an intensive study on the effects of aerial spraying in communities surrounding banana plantations in the Davao region.

Aerial spraying of fungicide has been resorted to by members of the Philippine Banana Growers and Exporters Association (PBGEA), the country's biggest organization of banana producers, for the past several decades to battle the deadly black sigatoka virus.

PBGEA maintains it is the most economical method for the $789-million industry to prevent the decimation of banana stands to the lethal fungus.

Banana growers have insisted that there is no harm in employing aerial spraying of fungicide and maintained that not a single person has contracted any disease because of it.

The British expert arrived last Saturday, Jan. 23, but his official visit will be from Jan. 25 to 29. He will spend three days in Davao.

Hewitt is the manager of Chemical Applications Research and Training (CART) at Lincoln Ventures Ltd., a science and technology company of Lincoln University in Canterbury, England.

He has done extensive voluntary work for technical societies and is a member of the editorial board for three international journals.

Hewitt chaired technical committees of several international societies, organized several international conferences, and is senior advisor to government organizations in Australia and the United States.