I suspect this is the bikeshed effect at work. There's an episode of The Magic School Bus (the original one, from the 90s) where a cacao farmer eradicates mosq

I suspect this is the bikeshed effect at work. There's an episode of The Magic School Bus (the original one, from the 90s) where a cacao farmer eradicates mosquitos and the cacao trees stop producing cacao beans. The episode ends with the reintroduction of the mosquitoes, and you get to eat chocolate again. So you've got at least one generation that grew up on the message that mosquitoes are a species that you don't eradicate, or else, no more chocolate. And that's a simple enough message that people would feel comfortable making public comment to that effect.