DEVELOPMENT-CUBA: FAO Backs Bio-Pesticide Production

By Dalia Acosta Reprint | | Print |

Dalia Acosta

HAVANA, Mar 2 2000 (IPS) - Cuba may soon be exporting bio-pesticides for controlling several types of agricultural plagues, an opportunity arising from a project supported by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).

The story began in 1997 when the Thrips Palmi Karny insect, previously unknown to Cuba, began attacking the Caribbean nation’s crops.

“With the help of the FAO we were able to control the plague and obtain bio-chemicals similar to those found on the international market,” said Roberto Gómez, head of the Cuban Agriculture Ministry’s project to fight biological pests.

The process of developing biological enemies to deal with invasions like that of the Thrips Palmi involves cultivating moulds and bacteria that attack insect eggs and introducing predatory species that feed on certain insect colonies.

Fernando Robayo, FAO’s permanent representative in Cuba, told IPS that once the insect is introduced on the island, “it cannot be completely eradicated, but we were able to achieve the most important thing, management, keeping the population low.”

The major achievement was that “we found a way to coexist with the plague” by using biological methods to control it, instead of chemical products, which not only eradicate the plague, they also hurt everything else around, affirmed Robayo.

In 1997, Cuban authorities requested emergency aid from the FAO after the Thrips Palmi was first found on the island.

The plague afflicted approximately 20 types of crops and led to losses of more than 20,000 tonnes of tubers, grains and vegetables.

The insect is extremely difficult to control because it multiplies rapidly. It primarily attacks potatoes, beans, vegetables and fruits, but also damages other crops, including herbs and flowers.

Originating in Asia, and now found on several other Caribbean islands, the Thrips is new to Cuba. The insect has demonstrated startling self-defence abilities. Its response to the chemical products that attacked its eggs was to automatically alter its reproductive system.

The insect’s normal reproductive cycle is 20 days. The females produced 20 offspring each, of which at least 18 were also female.

After trying several methods, Cuban scientists discovered that chemical products ultimately strengthened the pest and, at the same time, eliminated the natural enemies that could contribute to fighting and controlling the foreign insect.

At that time, convinced that the nation was facing a laboratory- produced version of the Thrips, the Cuban government accused the United States of instigating biological aggression, and simultaneously appealed to the FAO for help.

The FAO co-operative project, with a budget of 176,000 dollars, allowed experts to control the plague, and went further by providing guarantees of technical assistance in order to modernise the small-scale production of Cuban bio-preparations, and make them more effective.

While previous formulaes used for replacing chemical pesticides were in liquid form, the great technological novelty for Cuba was obtaining the products, created from bacteria and moulds, as solids.

The Villa Clara Centre for Entomological and Entomopathogenic Reproduction, located 300 km outside Havana, conducted the experiments and is now working to extend this experience to other Cuban regions.

“By obtaining a higher concentration in solid form, the dosage needed for field application has fallen, and as a result has reduced environmental damage,” affirmed agricultural engineer Zuleica Martínez, a Villa Clara Centre researcher.

The expert indicated that eight to 10 litres of the liquid substance were previously needed to cover one hectare, but now just one kilogramme bag of the bio-preparation covers the same area.

At the Cuban science institute, one can find samples of products for covering a wide variety of plagues that attack tomato, tobacco, cabbage, cucumber, plantain, yucca, maize and coffee crops, and even insects that affect livestock.

Four more Cuban centres are now included in the experiment, an expansion made possible by FAO funding and technical teams.

“We hope to convert these laboratories into reference centres for Cuba and other Latin American and Caribbean countries so that they may present their own similar situations,” Gómez stated.

According to the experts involved, once the experience is spread throughout the country and national demand is met, Cuba may begin exporting bio-pesticides.

The Agriculture Ministry official revealed that the island currently holds 220 labs producing biologically based insect- eradicating substances, and three bio-pesticide factories.

Cuba is one of Latin America’s largest producers of biological media, which are used for a wide range of agricultural purposes.

Gómez pointed out that while the European Union’s annual use of bio-preparations – instead of chemical products – reaches 700 tonnes annually, Cuba applies some 2,000 tonnes, all produced nationally.

The Cuban experience in biological warfare against agricultural pests began in the 1970s, but was initially conducted only on an experimental basis.

Agricultural engineer Susana Carballea, with 24 years of experience in plant health, assured that by 1978 the application of chemical products on yucca crops had been totally eliminated.

Since then, the practice of biological pest control has extended to other crops such as maize and tobacco. In 1989, scientists designed a integrated management strategy for pests affecting cabbage, a product that had normally received 17 applications of insecticide before harvest.

Experts from the University of Havana’s Centre for World Economic Studies report that the United Nations system assisted in 1,301 projects in Cuba from 1975 to 1995 at a cost of 301.5 million dollars.

In that period, the FAO participated in 75 projects with a total pricetag of more than 6.4 million dollars, according to a study conducted at the request of the UN agency’s delegation in Havana.