The Ministry of Agriculture, Fishing and Food has demanded this Friday “not to encourage false expectations” in the countryside in response to a request from the Junta de Andalucía, backed by the PP, to exceptionally allow the use of the active substance spirotetramat against the Thrips parvispinus pest that affects peppers, as it is a “prohibited” substance and “has no future”.
“Let’s all be responsible and not use a prohibited substance, which is registered in Europe as a possible endocrine-disrupting substance, as a political weapon,” they said from the department in a statement, after the Junta sent a second written request calling for exceptional plant-health solutions.
The Ministry has stressed that the company holding the active substance informed in April its reservations about spirotetramat due to its possible impact on the hormonal system of living beings and the risks associated with “developing certain types of cancer, reproductive and neurological problems”.
“The Ministry of Agriculture, Fishing and Food does not get involved in sterile controversies. The responsibility of the Government is to protect and guarantee adequate plant health, people’s health and the environment,” they reiterated in the face of criticism over the lack of tools, while the Government of Andalusia and the PP insist that this product is authorized in six Member States.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Fishing, Water and Rural Development this very week again requested from the Ministry the exceptional authorization of spirotetramat, after the first request was rejected on October 22 “despite the fact that this substance has been authorized in other countries of the European Union”. On a proposal from the experts consulted by the Junta, it has also been put forward to allow the use of spinetoram to strengthen control of the pest.
Substance with insufficient efficacy and with risks
From the MAPA they have pointed out that in countries such as Turkey or India, where spirotetramat is indeed permitted, “it is not delivering the expected results” against the insect. In Spain, they add, in campaigns in which this active substance has been authorized or during a grace period, “the pest has not been able to be controlled, as publicly recognized by a large part of the sector”.
The Ministry recalls that it has been communicated "losses from this same pest in previous campaigns, when sprirotetramat, and even another prohibited substance, spinetoram, were authorized", which in its view shows the limitations of a strategy based only on chemical products.
In relation to the situation with thrips, the department headed by Luis Planas maintains that "these days there are enough active substances registered in pepper and, specifically, against that pest", although it admits that "there are reasonable doubts about the effectiveness of chemical control alone".
The Ministry highlights that recently the use of the biological control organism Franklinotrips megalops has been approved, whose role against the pest "is considered fundamental". "There are alternatives that protect the health of people and also of the farmer," they emphasized.
In its approach, thrips control should be based "on proper measures for managing crop residues in combination with the use of registered biological control organisms and the available chemical substances", since "chemical control, by itself, has been shown to be insufficient in the medium term, both in Spain and in other countries".
Defense of the Andalusian protocol and compliance
The Ministry of Agriculture insists on maintaining the protocol approved by the Junta de Andalucía in April 2026, included in a resolution with voluntary and mandatory phytosanitary measures for the management of Trips parvispinus in pepper. "From a technical point of view, these are the appropriate measures for managing the pest," they argue, despite the fact that, after its application, the insect has spread to practically one hundred percent of the crops and has forced about 700 hectares to be pulled up out of the 13,500 devoted to this product in Almería.
Along these lines, the Ministry considers that both the sector and the administrations "should reflect on the degree of compliance with these measures", since "not applying these, even if only on a small part of the pepper crop area, entails the loss of effectiveness of the overall strategy and makes the efforts of the majority sterile".
According to the latest data released by the Board in October, the regional Administration has carried out around 922 inspections on farms and has imposed 272 sanctions for practices contrary to the protocols and for breaches. In this context, experts are proposing to toughen up the actions, with proposals such as a biological halt in summer and new controls from spring.