That affects the production of strawberries. The Foundation for Agrarian Innovation (FIA) together with the Agricultural Research Institute (INIA) will support a study that seeks detect the efficacy of different nematicides available in the national market in the control of Aphelenchoides fragariae, and generate basic information about its parasitism in strawberries grown in the central zone of Chile.
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The production of strawberries in Chile is of great social and economic importance, since it is mostly carried out by small producers, concentrated mainly in the central zone, between the Metropolitan and Maule Regions.
Recently, the SAG has notified the introduction to the country of the foliar nematode, Aphelenchoides fragariae, a threat to strawberry cultivation, since it can cause losses of up to 60% of production.
“As a Foundation we know that it is essential that innovation serves to solve the problems that affect our sector, specifically with this study that we are leading with INIA, we seek to generate knowledge of basic aspects of the biology and population dynamics that this plague presents.
"In this context, it should be mentioned that there are no registered nematicides in Chile for the control of foliar nematodes, so it is necessary to carry out this study and evaluate the effectiveness of the alternatives currently available in the local market”, said the executive director of FIA, Francine Brossard.
In this regard, the national director of INIA Iris Lobos, pointed out that "with the support of FIA and SAG we will execute a strategy that applies all our scientific and technological knowledge, which in the short term will allow farmers to chemically control the expansion of the pest, and in the medium and long term we are going to develop and transfer an integrated control package, including biological and cultural control of the pest, together with the development of new strawberry varieties that are less susceptible to the nematode. In this way, the knowledge and experience that INIA and MINAGRI have allows us as a country to obtain increasingly timely responses to this type of crisis.”
The Minister of Agriculture, Esteban Valenzuela, stated that “based on the data from the SAG that corroborate the appearance of a plague in the country's strawberry plantations, which are focused on the center-south, has led us to make the decision, in a complementary manner with other agricultural emergencies, also declare an agricultural emergency in the area where this nematode is affecting the production of strawberries”.
Likewise, the Secretary of State added that “we make this declaration of an agricultural emergency because we are not going to leave any strawberry producer alone, since most of them are small producers from Melipilla, San Pedro, Litueche, Pelluhue, Chanco.We are already in dialogue with Dipres to redirect the ministry's own resources and, eventually, additional government resources to be able to control this plague."
For her part, the National Director of the SAG, Andrea Collao, explained that "the strawberry nematode is a pest that mainly causes damage to plant yields. People can consume strawberries without problems, since it does not affect your health.
"The Service is working from the outset with the affected producers, mainly from the Maule, Metropolitan and Valparaíso regions, establishing a series of sanitary measures so that they can minimize the impact on their production, as well as the dispersion of the plague." ■
A very active and complex mid-May weather pattern is set to produce numerous areas of severe weather, heavy rain, high winds, and anomalous temperatures through this weekend.