Argentinean govt supports fight against Boll Weevil with new technologies

The government of the Argentinean province of Chaco has distributed traps, pheromones, and insecticides for free among farmers with properties of up to 100 hectares that intend to plant cotton in the next season. 

 

According to the Production Ministry, the idea is to integrate different links in the productive chain to combat the Boll Weevil (Anthonomus grandis).

 

The Boll Weevil is considered a major plague on cotton in the Americas. If not controlled correctly, the plague can cause losses of up to 70% of production due to the high capacity of reproduction and high destructive power.

 

The goal of the campaign is to get to the next season, which starts by October 1 and will go through November 30 in Chaco, with a smaller presence of the plagues in the fields. The farmers with over 100 hectares could also access inputs with a differentiated cost.

 

Each distributed trap is followed by three pheromones and three insecticides, which will allow three replacements during the monitoring period at the beginning of the campaign. The farmers that have traps from previous season could remove only to replace the corresponding pheromone.

 

According to the Production Ministry, the traps should be created at least 60 days prior to the seedling in the locations where a higher incidence of the plague is observed (higher, flooded or graze areas). Each trap should be positioned at a distance of 150 meters from one another.