Insatiable Bug Route

1996/03/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Ekologia

The visitor who came by surprise to the island Granada del Caribe last year is making a great effort to expel it as soon as possible, but so far they have not achieved anything. The visitor was totally unknown, but in these months he has achieved immediate fame throughout Granada and even in the surrounding islands. The visitor is an insatiable bug that attacks plants and everything points to the Caribbean coming from Africa.

Those responsible for the Department of Agriculture of Granada say that since then it has caused a great slaughter: In 1995 it caused damage of around 60 million dollars, that is, they lost a quarter of the gross domestic product of Granada “eating” bugs.

According to the researchers, during the tour of the Granada bug has been just a small stop and will shortly try to spread throughout the Caribbean. To fail at least, farmers and biologists face intense war. A similar epidemic occurred in Africa in the 1970s, when a parasite was used to fight the bug.

However, researchers do not agree to point out the parasite that should be used to stop the Granada epidemic. Unfortunately the lost months cannot be recovered.