The Government of Aragon presents a pioneering initiative in Spain to combat the plague of langosta

The zone of Monegros in Aragon, together with The Sober (Badajoz), the region of Trujillo (Cáceres), Valley of the Alcudia (Ciudad Real) and the Valley of the Pedroches (Córdoba) are the five zones considered at present in our country like main permanent habitats or areas gregarígenas of the langosta Mediterranean. In these zones where the langosta lives of permanent form, form , when they give determinate conditions, big populations of insects that invade and arrasan zones much more extensive that constitute the area of invasion or temporary habitat of the insect. These big invasions are used to to last two or three years, diminishing afterwards sharply the population that goes back again to grow quickly, repeating this situation one and again along the years.

The Autonomous Community of Aragon has a wide experience in the knowledge of these species, with a line of work initiated in the year 1986 and that has kept until the actuality. In this sense, Aragon has been pioneering in the development of predictive models of the populational dynamics of these species, to establish measures biorracionales of performance, advancing in the knowledge of the integrated cheese cheese control with pheromones that allow the handle selective of these plagues. “Today we go to present an alternative method of control of this plague, a pheromone sintetizada of aggregation that would reduce the use of the phytosanitary ware products and the massive captures that come realising”, has ensured the director of the Centre of Health and Vegetal Certification, Emilio Betrán, the one who has confirmed that already they have done proofs in laboratory and in field to check the evolution and the alluring capacity of this substance, to be able to set it up the next year. An initiative of Aragon, pioneer to national level, and that attains to concentrate to the langosta in determinate zones so that it do not produce damages.”The method of control will complement with the current chemical treatments, so much terrestrial like aerial”, has matizado Betrán.

The Government of Aragon invests annually in the execution of the group of these works near of 800.000 euros, for the control of these insects, cofinanciados to the 50 % with the Ministry of Agriculture, Feeding and Environingingment. By his part, Carmen Diaz, boss of Service of Phytosanitary ware Coordination of the Ministry of Agriculture, Feeding and Environingingment, declared that “the works coordinate through the National Phytosanitary ware Committee, where are represented all the autonomous communities”. Specifically, matizó: “When there is a program of this type for the fight of any harmful organism, the committee can decide create a group of work of experts, as the one of today, to study the situation and explain the method in question”.