Biological pest and disease control has played a key role in ensuring the plant health of greenhouse crops for the past twenty years, thanks to its high efficiency and unbeatable technical advantages. "No one can question that biological control works and that it is the only option available in the market to control pests without generating resistance, without leaving chemical residues and without needing safety periods," stated the president of IBMA España, Marisé Borja, during the informative meeting held today in El Ejido, together with other leading players in Almería's agricultural sector.
The meeting was attended by the mayor of El Ejido, Francisco Góngora; the Councilor for Agriculture of El Ejido's town council, Manuel Martínez; the secretary general of the Territorial Delegation of Agriculture, José Antonio Aliaga; the president of the Official College of Agricultural Technical Engineers of Almería (COITAAL), Fernando Paniagua; the president of Hortyfuta, Juan Tomás Cano; and representatives of the Agrobío, Biobest, Bioline, CBC, and Koppert companies.
IBMA España, the International Biocontrol Manufacturers Association that represents the biocontrol industry, stressed that all of Almeria's agricultural sector, without exceptions, should consider biological control as the priority strategy for pest control and as a central axis of action in integrated pest control, which allows, if necessary, the occasional use of chemical pesticides that respect beneficial insects, the existing biodiversity inside and outside greenhouses, and the health of producers and consumers. "Biological control has to be carried out throughout the entire season, from the beginning to the end of the crop cycle. We aspire that biological control be applied in 100% of greenhouse production area," stated Juan Tomás Cano, Hortyfruta's president.
"Biological control is not the future, it is the present in greenhouse agriculture", said the president of IBMA, referring to the loss of effectiveness of some of the chemical pesticides most commonly used in recent years for pest control in greenhouse crops. "Most pests have become resistant. In addition, many of the active materials available on the market for decades have already been banned by the authorities due to their toxicological profile, so the range of chemical solutions available to growers has been significantly reduced," Dr. Borja stated.
The consequences of this were evident in Almería during the 2023/24 and 2024/25 seasons. Chemical control against thrips pests has not achieved the expected results, generating losses in the affected crops and despair and uncertainty among those growers who had not opted for biological control. "The entire provincial agricultural sector should advocate for biological control as the widespread technique in Almeria. Control must be carried out right, correctly managing application times, and making the right decisions with the help of qualified technical advice," Marisé Borja stated.
"Biological control has allowed reducing the presence of phytosanitary residues in fruit and vegetable analyses to almost zero, well below the European average," stated José Antonio Aliaga, representative of the Territorial Delegation of Agriculture in Almeria.
"We must not abandon integrated pest control in the face of the appearance of new pests, this is the most important lesson for Almeria's countryside at the moment", the President of IBMA España stressed.
Avoiding another pepper crisis
The crisis in the 2006-07 season, caused by the presence of banned chemical pesticides detected in peppers grown in Almeria, has reminded Almería's entire agricultural sector of the need to avoid risky situations caused by ignorance or nervousness. Fernando Paniagua, the President of COITAAL, called on the younger agricultural technicians, who did not experience that crisis, to avoid another similar situation.
The Mayor of El Ejido positively assessed the evolution of biological control since the 2006/07 season's pepper crisis, but warned that the sector can't lower its guard or stop innovating in the search for new solutions.
For more information:
Dr. Magda Galeano Revert
Vice President
IBMA España
Tel. +34 669897044
Email: [email protected]
www.ibmaspain.es