Insects cause serious damage to olive plantations in Azerbaijan

BAKU, Azerbaijan, Feb.11

By Ilhama Isabalayeva – Trend:

The olive fly has caused serious damage to olive plantations in Azerbaijan over the past season, causing 80-100 percent loss of the crop on some plantations in 2020, Chairman of the Public Association for Nature Protection ‘Ekostil-Azerbaijan’ Elman Yusifov told Trend.

According to Yusifov, the production of olives plays an important role in the global economy, and in Europe alone there are about 5 million hectares of olive plantations.

He noted that in Azerbaijan, research on pests of the olive tree (Olea Europea) began at the beginning of the last century. As a result of studies carried out by Azerbaijani entomologists at the end of the 20th century, 38 species of pests belonging to 15 families were identified in olive crops planted in the country, of which 19 species belonged to the order Homoptera, 12 to Coleoptera.

“At that time, the purple scale insect (Parlatoria oleae) and the olive worm (Pollinia Pollini) were the most damaging to olive farms, and today the olive fly (Bactrocera Olea) is such a pest,” the chairman reminded. “Since 2014, olive flies have inflicted big detriment on farms in Europe and Central Asia, with crop losses reaching 15-70 percent. In Italy alone, olive oil production decreased by 70 percent in the mentioned year compared to 2013.”

“The above facts sharply raise the problem of plant protection in our country, requiring the development of its agrotechnical, biological, chemical, biotechnological aspects, and application in farms,” Yusifov further said.

“Currently, pheromone traps are considered the most effective and environmentally friendly method of pest control. To this end, there can be developed a method for the synthesis of pheromones and study the issue of mass production in cooperation with international organizations and relevant institutions. If the result is positive, such work can be also carried out with other plants – pomegranate, hazelnuts, greenhouse tomatoes, cucumbers, and others,” added Yusifov.