New guidelines for Integrated Pest Management  (IPM) were launched by Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Animal Rights Anton Refalo on Thursday.

These guidelines are control methods to fight several pests.

In a press conference Refalo explained how these guidelines form part of the AGRIHUB project, which started in 2020 through an investment of €2 million.

"IPM are control methods that fight against pests in a holistic way, i.e. not simply using a pesticide alone, but also other aspects that can be beneficial to farmers with a minimal impact on the environment," Minister Refalo said.

The Directorate of Agriculture through AGRIHUB and with the help of experts in phenology have developed this set of guidelines related to the five crops that have the greatest economic value in the agricultural sector - tomatoes, potatoes, olives, grapes and strawberries.

Refalo said that through these guidelines both experienced farmers, as well as those starting out, will have access to current and realistic information on how best to protect their products.

He explained that the ministry is also working on the Pest Prediction Models, which are processes that involve the fight against the invasion of insects. 

"For this monitoring phase, the government has invested in one of the best technologies. This technology is placed in traps that, with an artificial intelligence system, capture, count and determine the number of insects caught by that trap. Apart from that, these traps collect other information such as the analysis of the weather and even of the soil and are powered by solar energy."