AgroaldeaTHE PILOT PROJECT MUST CONTINUE AND ACT THROUGHOUT THE TERRITORY.
Koppert, The world's leading company in biological crop protection has played a key role in the development and execution of the Pilot Project to control the whitefly infestation in the valley of La Aldea de San Nicolás..
The technical coordinator of Koppert Spain, Antonio Jimenez, made a visit to the municipality in order to learn about and evaluate the work carried out in the field by the assigned technicians. Agroaldea He was part of the visit and conducted the following interview.
TO. After covering a good part of the so-called “ground zero”, what opinion do you have about the results??
A.J. The assessment we make at Koppert is very positive. The reduction of whiteflies has been very significant and the work that has been carried out allows us to confirm a lower incidence.
TO. This first battle has ended in favor of the Technical Commission, but does the work end here?.
A.J. No, at all. Something similar to this was already done seven years ago in Murcia. And experience shows that this is a three or four year process.. Here the first step has been taken and the important thing is to continue the work started, covering the entire Valley. This Pilot Project must become something global.
TO. There has also been talk of biological unemployment as another tool…
A.J. And it must be contemplated. Biological strike or quarantine has been proposed for years in areas of Almería, Murcia and the Levant, But none of these proposals have yet been put into practice.. We know that in other parts of the planet where it has been carried out, it has given good results.. Why couldn't La Aldea be a pioneer and the one who develops this initiative??
TO. We know that Koppert continues to carry out important lines of research. What are you working on at the moment??
A.J. In the Canary Islands we carry out projects in other crops such as bananas, avocados, vineyards... We also continue working on tomato cultivation in a European project in which the R&D&I department is immersed in the search for a predator, del tipo Amblyseius, that sets and remains in the crop. It is a long and very complex project.
TO. Does applying integrated fighting revalue the product.?
A.J. Not only does it revalue it but it also benefits the environment, to the health of the producer and the consumer, And what is more important, allows sustainable activity, waste free.