Ecobreves – VENEZUELA: Fighting the Ashen Moth

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

CARACAS, Jan 31 2011 (IPS) - Researchers at the Central University of Venezuela are proposing to develop the Beauveria Bassiania fungus in mangroves on the Paria Peninsula and other region in the country's northeast as a biological agent to control an onslaught of the ashen moth (Hylesia metabus). The tiny hairs of the moth cause allergic reactions in human skin and other organs.

“We are proposing to develop … biological agents to control these pests, as well as agricultural diseases, with economic and environmental costs far below the use of chemical agents,” Blas Dorta, coordinator of the University's School of Sciences, told Tierramérica.

The coastal zones of Paria, where the ashen moth poses a health problem for the production of goods and services in both farming and tourism, the authorities rely on fumigation with chemical pesticides over 15,000 hectares that include mangrove forests — in a bid to get rid of the pesky moth.