As for diseases, Bertina Alexandra considered essential “the georeferencing of the different citrus groves”, so that their location is known and that “global monitoring, as in Spain” can be done, with information “circulating freely”.
“When a farmer detects a pest, the rest know that the critical level has been reached and that they have to undergo treatment”, he exemplified.
The agronomist revealed that “a strategic plan to fight the fly and the registration of citrus groves has already been proposed”, but “there is no political will” and that work continues “with 15 years of delay compared to what has already been made in Spain ”.
“The problem has nothing to do with DRAP-Algarve, whose regional director has done what he can, there is no political will above,” he said.
As for ‘greening’, Bertina Alexandra considered essential the release of auxiliary insects that “prevent the appearance” of insects that transmit the disease, but complained that “the Institute for the Conservation of Nature and Forests (ICNF) did not authorize more starts”, action that “could prevent the disease from reaching the Algarve”.
To Lusa, the regional director of agriculture in the Algarve revealed that the program for biological control against ‘Trioza erytreae’, transmitter of ‘greening’, has already been authorized by the ICNF, with further starts being prepared “in the short term” in “three or four places ”where the insect has already been detected, to serve as a“ buffer ”for a possible advance of the disease to the Algarve.
Regarding the orchard registration plan, Pedro Valadas Monteiro said that DRAP-Algarve “prepared an integrated control plan” whose application, worth “one million euros”, will be submitted to the Environmental Fund of the Ministry of Environment and Action Climate, but “there is a set of initiatives” that could progress in parallel, namely the “register and mapping of orchards”.
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