The borer is the plague with the most important economic impact on the national coffee industry, since its incidence causes losses in the production and quality of the coffee from the attacked plantations.
Given this situation, the government announced an agro-ecological strategy to deal with this problem. It is about the implementation of wasps that feed only on the microorganism that affects coffee trees.
Specifically, the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAG) will deliver specimens of the «Cephalonomia stephanoderis» wasp to benefit more than 30 producers of golden grain in the first phase.
«We will start the delivery of 1,000 wasps per producer; in this first phase we are going to benefit more than 30. We are also working on the reproduction of Cephalonomia” — said the head of the MAG, Enrique Parada.
The official highlighted the environmental impact of the strategy, since it is expected that with its implementation, the use of agrochemicals on farms will be reduced by at least 25%.
For her part, the director of the Salvadoran Coffee Council (CSC), Carolina Padilla, indicated that this agroecological alternative to eliminate the coffee berry borer will reduce production losses, reduce costs, and raise the quality of the cup, and constitutes a step forward in the construction of an agriculture with a resilience approach.
“Coordinated work helps promote this type of initiative. Now more than ever, we must be creative to have sustainable coffee farming and reduce costs at a time of global crisis,” said Padilla.
In addition, the director of the National Center for Agricultural Technology (Centa), Edgardo Reyes, said that the institution will support the reproduction of the Cephalonomia wasp in terms of research.
“We are a country that produces coffee with high demand and with excellence in the cup, so it is important to bet on improving the production and quality of the grain with biological control of the drill,” Reyes concluded.