With the start of El Niño Phenomenon, the National Agrarian Health Service of Peru (Senasa) has alerted that different pests threaten the country’s agricultural production. One of the most devastating is the prodiplosis or caracha. This can cause yield losses of up to 50% of tomato and pepper crops on the north, central and southern coast of Peru, generating losses of US$8.5 million to small and medium farmers.
In addition, the world heat record, recently confirmed by the United Nations (UN), could make this pest potentially uncontrollable, becoming more dangerous, due to the increase in temperatures that favor it.
“Prodiplosis is a polyphagous pest that occurs in different crops and that generates deformities in the shoots, even causing the death of the plants”, indicated Nill Lara, Technical Representative of Syngenta.
“These larvae, when developing in the plant, scratch the shoots and cause distortions during the growth of the crops, generating a burnt appearance around the stem causing its wilting and subsequent death in intense attacks. It also directly affects causing damage to flowers and fruits, reducing production and commercial quality. In addition to tomatoes and peppers, it attacks other crops such as potatoes, soybeans, beans, and cotton, among others.”added the engineer Lara.
On the other hand, the caracha or Prodiplosis longifila occurs at times of the year with high temperatures and relative humidity. A climate like this highly favors the reproduction of adults and their population increase. In a climate between 26 °C to 28 °C, this pest can become potentially uncontrollable.
Alternative solutions
The use of chemical methods is known to be effective in reducing pest populations. In this sense, Syngenta has developed Incipio, a product with Plinazolin technology, which allows effective control of this pest, protecting crops and consumers. It is the only product that allows controlling larvae and adults (most only control larvae), which would make it easier to intervene in both stages of development, according to the specialist.
Source: Larepublica
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