The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development of the Junta de Andalucía has reiterated the need to apply the biological control protocol developed at the end of the last horticultural campaign to prevent the spread of Thrips parvispinus, after this pest has begun to appear in greenhouses in the Poniente almeriense.
As reported by the Andalusian Administration through the Phytosanitary Alert and Information Network (RAIF), once the transplanting of the pepper is completed, in some of the earliest areas, such as Adra, Berja, and Dalías, the presence of thrips has begun to be confirmed.
In light of this situation, the regional department has once again focused on the phytosanitary measures planned for the prevention and control of the pest, which include a specific biological control protocol for greenhouse pepper cultivation. These guidelines were included in the regulations published on April 17 in the BOJA.
The Junta has emphasized that the Territorial Delegation of Almería will continue to carry out inspections on the ground to verify that producers are correctly complying with the mandatory measures, "initiating the appropriate sanctioning files," all "in order to mitigate the impact of this and other pests on the rest of the farmers."
According to the latest data made public by the Junta, in the province of Almería, 597 field inspections have been carried out to verify the uprooting of crops that have already been completed. As a result of these actions, 209 sanctioning procedures have been initiated for non-compliance and for the detection of phytosanitary risks.
In this regard, the Territorial Delegation of Almería has indicated that it maintains an operational anonymous reporting channel through the phones 950011033 and 950011034 to report any practice that may pose a risk to the agricultural sector.