The Councilor for Rural Development of Los Realejos, Alexis Hernández (PP), reports the start, “since last week”, of a new annual campaign to distribute pheromones to control the Tecia solanivora plague, popularly known as the Guatemalan moth, which affects potato crops. The initiative is once again promoted from the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries of the Government of the Canary Islandswith the support of the Los Realejos City Council, “in direct contact with the local agricultural sector, to which the delivery of some 500 doses is facilitated.”
People with land dedicated to this crop in the municipality may request and collect the pheromones at the two usual distribution points: the Icod de los Trigos Cooperativeduring its opening hours to the public, and the headquarters of the Montaña Limón Neighborhood Associationfrom Las Llanadas, from Monday to Friday from 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
According to the mayor of Los Realejos, Manuel Dominguez (PP)«we are still very concerned about the serious threat of this plague year after year for this traditional crop of the islands, especially rooted in this municipality in the midlands of Icod el Alto, Palo Blanco, Las Llanadas and La Ferruja. All collaboration and joint work is important to continue in this fight for the survival of such a unique product from our garden.
From the Department of Rural Development of Los Realejos, steps have also been taken with the Council of Tenerife to coordinate the next fitting out of containers for the annual disposal of potatoes affected by the moth in the same areas of Las Llanadas and Icod el Alto. “This is one more measure to fight against its spread, an initiative in which the collaboration of the farmers themselves is vital”, he values alexis hernandez.
How cheats work
Alexis Hernández explains that the intervention requires the placement of “some traps where the pheromones are located, approximately at a distance of 30 meters each, to which the males of the moth are attracted in search of females, and there they are trapped. This is how it is to reduce the incidence of the plague, with the guarantee that it does not attract other insects.
