Santander, Jan 25 (EFEAGRO).- The Government of Cantabria has warned of the presence in Cantabria of the red palm weevil, a borer beetle of Asian origin that lives and feeds inside the palm trees, in such a way that the larvae excavate galleries weakening the specimen, causing its death.
The Ministry of the Environment has alerted, although the presence of this insect is not categorized as a quarantine pest by the European Union, that it may represent the loss of specimens of considerable historical and ornamental value and a risk it poses to people in spaces for public use.
For this reason, through a press release, it has requested the collaboration of city councils and other local entities, as well as private property owners to eliminate all those palm trees that they detect are affected and their remains.
The Ministry has called on town halls and other local entities to inform their neighbors of the presence of this insect and of the methods for its elimination so as not to leave infested or damaged plant material in uncontrolled and properly destroyed places.
Thus, fine grinding and incineration are recommended, within the regulatory limits on burning vegetable residues, as well as burying to a minimum depth of one meter.
In any case, the Ministry has recommended collecting the affected material and transporting it to a suitable place for burial, or failing that, providing a point so that those affected can transfer the affected plant material and proceed to bury it.
In this sense, the Ministry has carried out the necessary procedures to be able to incinerate plant remains affected by this plague in the Meruelo waste plant, as well as carrying out burials with the corresponding individualized authorization from the General Directorate of Rural Development and the Prior contact with the public company MARE to warn of the entry of this type of waste to the plant.
This was explained on Tuesday by the Minister of Rural Development, Livestock, Fisheries, Food and the Environment, Guillermo Blanco, during the informative talk that the Government of Cantabria has organized at the headquarters of the Environmental Research Center (CIMA) to explain the control strategies to be used against the palm weevil, and which has been taught by Vanesa Tilán, from Arbolart.
In collaboration with the Cantabrian Association of Gardeners, this face-to-face talk has been organized, and another telematic one, this afternoon, with the aim of reaching as many affected people as possible.
Aware of the seriousness of the problem, the counselor has assured that his department “will collaborate to the best of its ability to contain it, facilitating the necessary administrative procedures and carrying out coordination and dissemination tasks on the matter.”