The Government of the Azores is going to introduce a new way in the fight against the Japanese beetle nuisance in several islands of the Region - a locally produced fungus that can cause the death of the adults and of the larvae.

The microbiological agent at issue - the metarhizium anisopliae - already began to be produced by the technical support secured by the United States as part of the Lajes agreement, having to be used in the summer of next year in the islands of São Miguel, Terceira and Faial.

According to the Government, the new technique consists in placing the fungus in traps where the adult beetles will be contaminated, being then freed to contaminate other insects (adults and larvae).

The contaminated examples die in the end of four to five days, an interval of time considered sufficient so that the distribution of the fungus happens.

For the Executive, the problems caused in the Azores by the Japanese beetle have more to do with its statute of “quarantine nuisance” than that of quantity, since “whether the provoked damages whether in the agricultural cultures, whether their control, do not present exceptional difficulties when compared with other nuisances or less visible diseases typical of the agricultural cultures”.

Nevertheless, the official services are going to be committed in the intensification and integration of all the ways of struggle: cultural, biotechnical and biological, valuing the protection of the environment.