The Agromuralla association has urgently requested that a legal exceptionality be enabled to authorize the use of drones for applying phytosanitary treatments in corn plots affected by the armyworm pest.
In a statement, the organization added that it also requests permission to carry out antifungal treatments in the vineyards of Ribeira Sacra, given the strong pressure of mildew, the complicated orography that hinders access to the farms, and the advanced age of a large part of the region's winegrowers.
"Corn represents the main fodder production of Galician dairy farms, on which livestock feed and farm profitability depend," Agromuralla stated, emphasizing the importance of this campaign for the continuity of the farms.
For this reason, the association has called on both the Xunta and the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food to adopt "all necessary measures immediately" to curb the pest and guarantee production.
The president of Agromuralla, Noelia Rodríguez, detailed that at the moment the main milk-producing regions of Galicia, both in the province of A Coruña and Lugo, "suffer serious attacks" from the armyworm, which "in a few days are capable of completely devastating entire corn fields due to their voracity."
As the association explained, the spread of this pest has been driven by the high temperatures recorded this year, which has caused it to appear a month earlier than usual and for its advance to be particularly rapid.
"To control it, phytosanitary treatments based on insecticides must be urgently applied, but in some cases it is impossible to enter the fields with a tractor and conventional sprayer because the corn that was cultivated earlier is already large," Rodríguez indicated, pointing to the limitations of traditional methods.
In this context, she recalled that the Xunta plans to request changes from the Ministry in the regulations governing the use of drones and for Brussels to authorize certain products for aerial application, although she warned that this administrative procedure "takes time and does not solve the current problem."
"It is necessary to enable an exceptionality, which is the fastest way to authorize drone applications with urgency," insisted the president of Agromuralla, who demands an immediate response to protect both fodder corn and the vineyards of the Ribeira Sacra.