Superfly is big threat to veg

They are less than half an inch in size, but to allotment holders in the West Midlands they are big trouble.

And now the tiny Phytomyza Gymnostoma is at the centre of a full-scale Government alert after being spotted munching on crops in the region. The superfly pest, an allium leaf miner, has a particular penchant for leeks and onions.

It was spotted for the first time in a Wolverhampton garden, prompting an investigation by a team of Government boffins.

The rapid spread of the pest has destroyed thousands of leeks and onions on allotments and garden plots in the West Midlands.

The top-level inquiry has now been launched by Lord Rooker, Minister of Sustainable Farming and Foods, after reports of widespread damage by the allium leaf miner on veg patches.

The superpest was found in the UK for the first time in a private Wolverhampton garden in 2003 and has since spread, causing damage and distress to gardeners.

Lord Rooker was asked to investigate the problem by Tom Watson, Labour MP for West Bromwich East, who had been approached by worried allotment holders and gardeners in his constituency.

Mr Watson took up people's complaints after discussing the matter with Frank Gregg, the locally-based secretary of the Midland Leek and Onion Society, and seeing the devastation on a plot in Bromford Lane, West Bromwich.

Mr Gregg said top exhibitors had so far been unaffected because they grow under polythene tunnels, but not all gardeners had that protection.

Lord Rooker said the pest could not be controlled by purely chemical means.

The minister said that Defra had now launched an inquiry into the pest problem.

Mr Watson urged growers affected by the problem to contact Defra to give them their views.