Latest News

  • Home
  • Global
  • How Trillions Of Insects Replaced Pesticides In Spain's 'Sea Of Plastic'
How Trillions Of Insects Replaced Pesticides In Spain's 'Sea Of Plastic'
Thursday, July 25, 2019 IST
How Trillions Of Insects Replaced Pesticides In Spain

Last year 2.5 million tonnes of produce was exported from Almeria, half of Spain's total vegetable exports

 
 

DALAS, SPAIN: "They work for me night and day," smiles Antonio Zamora, standing in his greenhouse. His minuscule employees are bugs that feed on the parasites threatening his peppers.
 
Zamora, like most of his colleagues, no longer sprays his crops with pesticides, instead hanging small bags of mites on the plants, leaving them to attack parasites while sparing his produce.
 
He owns two hectares (five acres) in the so-called "Sea of Plastic", some 30,000 hectares of greenhouses in southeastern Spain's Almeria province, where much of Europe's fruits and vegetables are grown.
 
The sparkling mosaic of white plastic bordering the Mediterranean -- which is visible from space -- produces tomatoes, cucumbers, courgettes, peppers and aubergines all year round to supply Europe's supermarkets.
 
Last year 2.5 million tonnes of produce was exported from Almeria, half of Spain's total vegetable exports.
 
Like Zamora, virtually all pepper growers in Almeria have replaced insecticides with so-called "biological control" using insects.
 
About 60 percent of tomato growers have done the same, along with a quarter of courgette producers, according to the producers' association Coexphal.
 
Consumption of insecticides in Almeria -- where agriculture employs some 120,000 people and accounts for 20 percent of economic output -- has dropped by 40 percent since 2007, according to local authorities.
 
A trillion insects
 
The use of insecticides surged in the 1960s, but farmers have adopted new methods under pressure from consumer groups as well as the fact that their crops have become increasingly resistant to the chemicals.
 
"We have had to change course. The use of pesticides became excessive," said Jan van der Blom, an expert in biocontrol at Coexphal.
 
Encarnacion Samblas of environmental group Ecologists in Action described the change as a "very positive step".
 
"In many cases the reduction in the use of chemical products has been drastic, and the substances that are still in use are softer," she said.
 
French agricultural cooperative InVivo, which has yearly sales of 5.5 billion euros ($6.2 billion), recently opened a "biofactory", Bioline Iberia, in the heart of the Sea of Plastic. 
 
Inside hermetically closed rooms with tightly controlled temperature and humidity levels, employees raise four species of mites to be sold in the region as well as in Portugal and Morocco.
 
The company projects production of a trillion insects this year.
 
Several other factories of the same type have sprung up in recent years around the Sea of Plastic, and roughly 30 firms sell insects, at steadily decreasing prices.
 
"Spain can be considered the largest area in Europe and perhaps the world in terms of the use of biological control," said Bioline Iberia director Federico Garcia.

 
 

Chemicals still prevalent
 
But the road to truly green farming remains long, said Samblas of Ecologists in Action, noting that many farmers still use fungicides and various other substances to disinfect soils.
 
"Farmers continue to use chemicals in a not very rational way, because they are recommended, they are sold to them. Often they use them as a routine, without really knowing why," she said.
 
Even "organic" greenhouses -- with 2,000 hectares certified as such or seeking the label -- often pay little heed to biodiversity or fail to take proper care of the soil, the ecologist said.
 
She noted that European regulations on these issues are lacking.
 
An increase in the amount of land used for farming has put pressure on water resources in an arid region, Samblas added.
 
Agronomist Jose Manuel Torres warned that year-round farming methods favour the growth of parasites, arguing that the region should halt production during the summer.
 
Samblas noted another problem: old greenhouse plastics often find their way into the Mediterranean.

 
 
 
 
 

Related Topics

 
 
 

Trending News & Articles

 Article
'Worse than prison': A rare look inside China's detention camps to 'brainwash' Muslims

ALMATY: Hour upon hour, day upon day, Omir Bekali and other detainees in far western China's new indoctrination camps had to disavow the...

Recently posted . 194K views . 1 min read
 

 Article
What The Shape Of Your Belly Button Says About Your Health

If you have payed attention to the belly buttons of people on the beach or the members of your family, you have probably noticed that they have different shapes and...

Recently posted . 8K views . 2 min read
 

 Article
Top 10 Horrifying Acts of Chemical Warfare and Gas Attacks

In this age of terror, there might be nothing more terrifying than the thought of an attack carried out with chemical weapons. We’ve all heard the horrific ...

Recently posted . 3K views . 4 min read
 

 Article
Top 10 Best Gym Equipment Brands in India 2018

Body fitness is one thing that everyone wants to maintain irrespective of age. Going to the gym and doing some great exercise always helps to maintain your body fit...

Recently posted . 3K views . 2 min read
 

 
 

More in Global

 Article
Plane Goes Down At Parking Lot Outside California Mall, 5 Dead

The twin-engine aircraft on Sunday crashed near the South Coast Plaza shopping centre in Santa Ana city  

Recently posted. 527 views . 0 min read
 

 Article
I wasn’t kidding... Wall on US-Mexico border being designed right now: Trump

President Donald Trump on Wednesday said that the US is planning the divider on its southern fringe with Mexico. "The divider is getting composed ri...

Recently posted. 798 views . 8 min read
 

 Article
Nepal is turning Everest trash into treasure

The waste collected is segregated, processed and recycled as raw materials for various other products

Recently posted. 603 views . 0 min read
 

 Video
Condition of Hindu Women in Pakistan



Recently posted . 831 views
 

 Photo
Top Honeymoon Destinations in India



Recently posted . 1K views
 

 Reviews
The Best 5 Hiking Backpacks in India – Reviews & Buying Guide



Recently posted . 1K views . 140 min read
 

 Reviews
The Best 5 Camping Tents in India 2018 – Reviews & Buying Guide



Recently posted . 1K views . 99 min read
 

 Article
Canadian Tourist's Parachute Fails To Open At Africa's Highest Peak, Dies

Paragliding on Mount Kilimanjaro is a popular activity, where tourists get a chance to mix wildlife safari with a paragliding expedition, and such accidents are rar...

Recently posted. 503 views . 1 min read
 

 Article
For More Than 25 Years This Japanese Diver Has Been Visiting His Best Friend A Fish

There are many animals and human relationships that we come across every day. The most common ones are, of course, with dogs and cats, but you can often see strange...

Recently posted. 648 views . 2 min read
 

 
 
 

   Prashnavali

  Thought of the Day

You cannot change your destination overnight, but you can change your direction overnight
Jim Rohn

Be the first one to comment on this story

Close
Post Comment
Shibu Chandran
2 hours ago

Serving political interests in another person's illness is the lowest form of human value. A 70+ y old lady has cancer.

November 28, 2016 05:00 IST
Shibu Chandran
2 hours ago

Serving political interests in another person's illness is the lowest form of human value. A 70+ y old lady has cancer.

November 28, 2016 05:00 IST
Shibu Chandran
2 hours ago

Serving political interests in another person's illness is the lowest form of human value. A 70+ y old lady has cancer.

November 28, 2016 05:00 IST
Shibu Chandran
2 hours ago

Serving political interests in another person's illness is the lowest form of human value. A 70+ y old lady has cancer.

November 28, 2016 05:00 IST


ads
Back To Top