Publisher : Biodiversity Journal
Place of publication :
Publication year : 2015
Thematic : Species
Language : English
Note
Since 2007, in Sicily, plant health protection against citrus mealybugs is taking place through
the Biofactory of Ramacca, in the Plain of Catania, a property of the Institute for Agricultural
Development of the Sicilian Region (i.e. Ente per lo Sviluppo Agricolo, E.S.A.). The
Biofactory is unique being aimed to produce industrial quantities of auxiliary insects and is
a center of European interest because it is fully organized to provide means of biological fight
imposed by the Directive 128/2009/EC, which requires, from 1 January 2014, farms to
comply with the application of general principles of integrated pest management. In this paper
we examine structural features of the Biofactory, breeding techniques empoyed and results
obtained in the period 2007–2013, which allowed many companies, from 200 to 360 ( i.e.
20% –35% of the regional surface operating in organic citrus production) to be able to employ
biological weapons against pest insects. We analyze dynamics and results of production
deriving from the approval and adoption, by the owner (E.S.A.), of a new "discipline" that
governs the assignment of insects to farmers at a very low price to balance E.S.A.'s purposes,
which is both to ensure adequate performance in order to pursue institutional support to
agriculture and, considering the Insitute’s economic nature, to partially cover the production
costs incurred to ensure the service. The continuity of the project is assured by the ongoing
program for the period 2013–2020 with an enlargement of the array of entomological
production aimed at intercepting the needs of new productions (i.e. greenhouse horticulture,
vines, ornamental and fruit trees).
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Keywords : coral-reefs
Encoded by : Pauline Carmel Joy Eje
