The so-called cotonet is a small white insect that spoils citrus fruits and causes millionaire losses by deforming the fruit or preventing its growth and marketing. To fight against this pseudococcid (Deelottococcus aberiae) from South Africa, the Valencian Ministry of Agriculture awarded in February, without public tender and due to emergency processing, a contract to the company Bayer Crop Science for an amount of 3.9 million euros for the supply of an innovative phytosanitary product against this year’s plague in the Valencian Community. In 2021, the department of the Generalitat already did the same but for 2.2 million. In total, 6.2 million euros in 13 months in two procedures negotiated without publicity.
In both cases, this type of direct contracting was motivated by “the catastrophic situation that this pest is causing in certain citrus-growing areas of the Valencian Community, as well as the serious danger that a repetition of this catastrophic situation could pose in the next campaign” . And it was justified by the “need for immediate action in the face of the risk of a serious economic, environmental and social impact”, according to the public contract, to which this newspaper has had access through the Transparency portal.
The direct award of Bayer responds to the fact that it is the only distributor of this biological method based on the use of traps to capture the male cotton wool with sexual pheromones (chemical substances secreted by living beings) and pyrethrins (natural compounds with insecticide properties). , according to the general director of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, Toni Quintana. The exceptional processing is explained by the urgency of the action, because the biological solution has to be applied now and in a period that does not exceed the extraordinary authorization of 120 days from the Ministry of Agriculture, points out the person in charge. “If we were to remove it through the ordinary procedure, we would continue to hire Bayer because it is the only one in the world that has this type of device, but it would not arrive in time,” adds Quintana.
The problem dates back to a foreign invasive plague that was detected in 2009 and that especially affects a good part of the Valencian Community, whose citrus trade invoices around 1,240 million euros a year, according to data from the La Unió de Llauradors union. and Ramaders. Between three and four million tons of oranges are produced and consumed mainly in Germany, France, the United Kingdom and Spain. The main organizations such as AVA-Asaja or La Unió estimate that the losses in 2021 due to the cotton wool amount to more than 200 million euros, although the figure is significantly lowered by other actors in the sector. Cotonet has also been detected to a lesser extent in Murcia, Andalusia and Catalonia.
The contracted biological solution is the result of research by the Valencian company Ecology and Agricultural Protection (EPA) and the Center for Agricultural Chemical Ecology of the Mediterranean Agroforestry Institute (CEQA-IAM) of the Polytechnic University. Bayer Crop Science reached an agreement with the EPA and registered this product, which it calls Vynty Citrus and defines as “the first device on the market formulated with pheromones and natural pyrethrins to control citrus pests,” according to a statement from the multinational.
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In 2018, researchers identified the sex pheromone that the female emits to attract the male. Then the device had to be manufactured on an industrial scale to be used in the field and distributed. Bayer unveiled the device or trap in January 2021, which also includes pyrethrin, a plant insecticide that kills the male when attracted to pheromones. “The technique only affects this pest and is cumulatively effective and respectful of the environment as it does not leave residues on the oranges. Farmers must pay 50% of the cost of the trap”, explains Dalmau.
The use of this system of attraction and death to interfere with mating behavior, avoiding the reproduction of the insect, is part of the line of work of incorporating non-polluting biological means in the fight against pests, according to those responsible for the Counseling. In addition, the European Union prohibited two years ago the use of methyl-chlorpyrifos, one of the most widely used insecticides against cotton wool, due to contamination and leaving chemical residues in the fruit.
The fight against cotton wool has led to an increase in the cost of production, which has gone from around 14 cents per kilo to 21 or 24 cents, points out Carles Peris, general secretary of La Unió. “We sell below what it costs us,” he laments. Peris stresses the problem of the lack of control of citrus imports in European ports and in the countries of origin. And he calls for cold treatment of citrus to kill the insect ”which Europe has not required from imports from South Africa. This country is the origin of the planga, according to molecular analyses, although it is not known with certainty how it reached Valencian lands.
Another of the biological control measures adopted by Agriculture is the massive release of cotonet predators such as cryptolemos, a species of ladybug. “We have also gone to South Africa to look for parasitoids to control this pest,” says Dalmau. In any case, “the solution must be comprehensive, also adapt hygienic and cultural measures, such as proper pruning of trees or disinfection of collection boxes and collectors’ clothing so that it is not artificially dispersed”, he adds.
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