Paraguay declares phytosanitary emergency due to grasshoppers

Paraguay has declared a phytosanitary emergency in the region of Chaco in the northern part of the country in order to amplify resources to combat grasshoppers.

 

Declared last week, the emergency will remain in effect for the next 60 days. The affected areas are Alto Paraguay and Boqueron, which is a wide territory that is not very populated with cattle farming being the major activity.

 

The first incidence was registered near the border with Bolivia with attacks in February. Paraguayan authorities have sought to impede the grasshoppers coming to the central zone of Chaco that has important dairy production and big meat processing centers, as well as the western region on the other side of the Paraguay river, where agricultural production is concentrated, and which is the fourth largest soybean exporter the world.

 

“The impact that we have is not as big as in the neighboring country (Bolivia),” the President of the National Service of Quality and Vegetable Health and Seeds, Oscar Cabrera, said during a press conference. “The damage that we have seen is minimal; but this can harm the crops and that’s what we want to avoid, we cannot wait to see it reach production locations.”

 

As a result, US$160,000 in additional resources will have to be deployed to combat the insects, said Cabrera. Grasshoppers have been found in a range of 100 kilometers, with Bolivia coming from the west with nine focuses. The agency said it has already started spraying works in the zone.