2024-07-20 17:10:15
Amor Nouira watched in exasperation as his precious cactus trees softened and became stained with white. He had given up trying to save his Chebika fields in Tunisia, which were being ravaged by the cactus mealybug, an insect that was spreading across North Africa.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture, the parasite (“dactylopius opuntiae”) has destroyed a third of the country’s plantations following it appeared in 2021.
Chebika and other agricultural areas in central Tunisia are the latest victims of an invasion by the insects, which emerged in the Maghreb a decade ago. An accidental import from the Americas – where the cactus originated – the cochineal sucks the plant’s sap, slowly killing it.
In Tunisia, around 150,000 families depend on cactus, which is consumed in fruit form and increasingly turned into cosmetics. Abroad, cactus seed oil, which has anti-aging properties, can cost up to 4,000 euros per liter.
The North African country is the world’s second-largest producer following Mexico, with 600,000 hectares planted and an annual output of 150,000 tonnes, said Rabeh Hajlaoui, director of documentation at the Ministry of Agriculture.
Production for export (Tunisia ranks fourth in the world) or a third of the crop (200,000 hectares) is still viable for now, but “we are stepping up efforts to save it because it is a very important source of income for certain populations”, stresses Mr Hajlaoui.
– “National Security” –
In Morocco, where cases of cochineal infection first appeared in 2014, cactus is cultivated on regarding 160,000 hectares.
In 2016, the Moroccan government launched an “emergency plan” once morest the parasite by trying chemicals (without much success), burying contaminated rackets and beginning research into species resistant to cochineal.
Despite these efforts, by August 2022, around 75% of the fig crop was still infected, said Mohamed Sbaghi, a professor at the National Agricultural Research Institute (INRA) and coordinator of the program.
In neighboring Algeria, where fig trees cover an area of regarding 60,000 hectares, carmine was discovered in 2021 in Tlemcen (west), near the Moroccan border, before continuing to Tunisia.
Although the plant is not native, it has flourished in North Africa and is particularly adapted to climate change characterized by “more drought and higher temperatures,” explained Tunisian entomologist Brahim Chermiti.
This cactus is popular with farmers for dividing farms and protecting them from wind.
Experts fear that all crops in Tunisia might be infected because “with the help of wind and the movement of livestock, the contamination will spread sooner or later.”
Mr Cermiti said it was a “national security issue” and he recommended “close monitoring of borders and increased awareness” to avoid the entry of contaminated fruit or plants.
– A ray of hope –
Mr. Hajiraoui of the ministry is concerned regarding possible social movements in regions such as Kasserine (southwest), where this culture is sometimes the only means of survival. “Figs are a source of income and if insects contaminate it, we will have problems with our population,” he stressed.
For the official, Tunisia’s pushback was plagued by “administrative delays,” especially in eliminating polluted factories.
Today, he recommends focusing on the plants’ “natural resistance.”
Last summer, in Morocco, INRA announced that it had identified eight species that were immune to cochineal.
This solution convinced the FAO, which announced at the end of June that, in collaboration with Morocco, 100 ladybirds of the species “Hyperaspis trifurcata” would be introduced to Tunisia, with the aim of “saving Tunisia’s cactus heritage”. The UN organization “urgently” raised $500,000 to help the country “contain the pest in the affected areas”.
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