The Unió Llauradora has reported the presence in southern France of a new species of whitefly not present in our agriculture: Alerucanthus spiniferus (Quaintance), which is attacking 102 plant species, including citrus fruits, and is also extremely voracious.

"This quarantine pest, detected in June in French territory and originally from Southeast Asia, has been spotted for now in 14 municipalities (with 5 more awaiting confirmation) in the French region of Occitania."

LA UNIÓ has asked both the Council and the Ministry of Agriculture to act "to prevent the pest from entering our territory. If they fail to do so and it attacks our crops, we will ask for patrimonial responsibility, as this would again result in extra costs for producers that they cannot assume and for which they have no responsibility."

Carles Peris, secretary general of LA UNIÓ, said that "it is evident that phytosanitary controls at the border are inefficient, as we have been denouncing for some time, and we do not have sufficiently efficient tools - neither phytosanitary nor biological control - to face the threat of a new pest." Peris insisted on the need to implement inspections at origin "so that when someone wants to export to the EU, rigorous and effective controls are automatically carried out to ensure they comply with the same regulations that are required of Valencian producers."

Valencia's agricultural sector has already had to deal with a considerable increase in production costs due to the measures implemented to tackle pests, including other whiteflies, which involves a greater number of applications of plant protection products. "In Spain, there are no specific phytosanitary products for the control of this fly, so we would have to use active materials authorized by the Official Register of Phytosanitary Products for the control of whiteflies, and we have fewer and fewer options. If this new whitefly is detected, the Eradication Program already approved by the Ministry of Agriculture must be implemented."

"This new quarantine pest attacks all citrus varieties, but also vines, kakis and pear trees, as well as ornamentals, such as rose bushes."

"It produces high amounts of honeydew that covers leaves and the fruit. As with other whitefly attacks, sooty mold can settle on the honeydew and affect the plant's respiration and photosynthesis. It also causes defoliation that weakens the tree and can seriously affect the production due to its negative impact on the fruit setting."

Source - https://www.freshplaza.com