THE PLAGUE HAS BEEN SPREAD THROUGHOUT THE ISLAND FOR TWO YEARS.

Since the year 2007, the plague of Tuta Absoluta has invaded the entire island of Ibiza, although its worst effects have been detected during this 2009, year especially marked by the crisis in which the economic results of the producers are disastrous.

The Tragsa company technician, coordinator of plant health campaigns, Juan Argente, affirms that tomato moth is no longer the biggest concern of growers, but the low prices prevailing in the vegetable sector, that do not allow production costs to be covered and have discouraged many farmers who have chosen to abandon their crops.

Argente presented the results of the campaigns against the three main pests that attack the island's crops, among which stand, the suit, the red palm weevil and the fruit fly.

The technician pointed out that 2007, when the campaign against the Tuta began, The first thing the Tragsa technicians did was place a network of information traps located in the most disparate places on the island..

Last year the campaign against the Tuta was carried out and those who carried it out recorded losses of between 5 and the 10 percent, but Argente assures that by many professionals there was an overuse of the active ingredients, what translated into a resistance of the plague.

The Council, cooperatives and plant defense associations proposed a change in strategy to achieve greater effectiveness in the fight. It was based on the creation of a company that would carry out weekly treatments based on a product that would eliminate the Tuta larva.

The fight would have been completed with two other monthly treatments by the farmer. But this company was never created and in 2009 the same overused products from the previous campaign have been used again. wrong treatment, according to the technician, since it achieves less effectiveness.

When using a higher than recommended dose of the product, the moth becomes resistant and the treatment is no longer effective. To this problem we must add that high temperatures and low prices, have caused many farmers, to reduce losses, choose to use cheaper pesticides, which has resulted in an increase in mites and greater damage to crops.

The following performances remain unknown according to the coach, although the situation may well serve for reflection in the Canary Islands, where the damage to La Tuta is in its first phase and if you take good note of it, a very different situation from that of Ibiza could be achieved.