SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, 11th March (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Tenerife government, in partnership with the Canarian Institute of Agricultural Research (ICIA), is progressing a project to control pests using indigenous flora. The Primary Sector councillor, Valentín González, elaborated that this scheme – currently in progress across various horticultural and tropical plantations – aims to establish functional biodiversity that supports the biological management of agricultural pests, ultimately enhancing the sustainability of farms.
The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) introduces eco-schemes as its most groundbreaking feature. It is a tool that mirrors the desires of European citizens, conveyed through the institutions and for generations to come. Valentín González highlighted that these eco-schemes “enable us to progress towards a circular economy that can simultaneously ensure the profitability and sustainability of the system.”
In the initiative promoted by the Tenerife government, the focus lies on the agroecological realm, incorporating the creation of biodiversity areas within farmlands and permanent crops. The objective is to foster the biodiversity linked to agricultural zones by establishing margins and biodiversity patches covering at least 3% of the total area.
These ecological structures are devised to offer refuge and sustenance to various species, including beneficial insects, which can aid in pest management through biological control methods, ensuring conservation and transforming this biodiversity into functional assets.
“In the Canary Islands, we find the richest diversity of vascular plants in Europe, boasting a plethora of taxa of great significance and distinct characteristics that render them highly valuable as allies to farmers, facilitating the establishment of biological pest control for conservation purposes,” remarked González.
The councillor concluded that the insights garnered from this project will be shared with farmers, delivering suitable native species for each specific region and crop to establish functional biodiversity that supports the biological control of agricultural pests, thereby augmenting the resilience of farms.
