Arboriculture à la Réunion
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Agroecological techniques to reduce the use of insecticides

Written by Sophie Della Mussia Modified on the

  • Mouche des légumes © Cirad

In Réunion, chayos, courgettes, cucumbers, pumpkins and other cucurbits suffer all year round from attacks by vegetable flies, the n°.1 enemy of vegetable farmers around the island. Now they have an innovative solution to the problem which does not involve spraying the crops with insecticide. The treatment, developed by the Gamour group (Agroecological management of Fruit Flies in Reunion), is named SP5: S for Surveillance, P1 for Prophylaxis, P2 for Plant traps, P3 for trapping (piégeage in French), P4 for Predators and parasitoids, P5 for agro-ecological Practices. Using this "agroecological" package, the participating farmers were able to significantly reduce the losses caused by vegetable flies, while reducing their insecticide bill.

Gamour, a flagship project

The project Gamour was tested for three years with 25 farmers (including 5 organic farms) in three municipalities: Petite Ile,Entre-Deux and Salazie (50 ha). Research, training and agricultural development was funded by the Ministry of Agriculture (CASDAR funds) in partnership with Europe, Region Réunion and the Department of Réunion. This type of project for agro-ecological crop protection is innovative: it is a first in France andEurope. It follows French (Ecophyto 2018) and European guidelines whichstipulate the reduction of pesticide use.

A large-scale partnership

Theproject is executed by the CIRAD and coordinated by the Chamber of Agriculture inRéunion. The GAMOUR project brings together a dozen partnersin agricultural development: Fédération Départementale des Groupements deDéfense contre les Organismes Nuisibles (FDGDON), Forum de l'AgricultureRaisonnée Respectueuse de l'Environnement (FARRE) Réunion, Direction de l'Alimentation, de l'Agriculture et de la Forêt (DAAF), Association Réunionnaise pour la Modernisation de l'Economie Fruitière, Légumière et Horticole (Armeflhor), Takamaka Industries, Vivéa, University of Réunion and Organic Farming Groups.

A shared experience

A guide book and a training DVD were provided to farmers in Réunion during the seminar and will be available soon on this web portal, together with a summary of the seminar. These handy tools have also been officially given to representatives of countries in the Indian Ocean, including Mauritius and Madagascar, as well as the regional coordinator of the Regional Initiative on Agroecology against Climate Change (IRACC), a project led by the Commission of Indian Ocean, partner of the Plant Protection Network (ePRPV) led by the island of Reunion.

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