The Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food (MAGA) of Guatemala and the International Regional Organization for Agricultural Health (OIRSA) have intensified the efforts to control the flying locust plague in the municipalities of Dolores, La Libertad, Santa Ana, Melchor de Mencos and El Chal, in Petén. An area where lobster outbreaks were reported since the first weeks of the year.

These outbreaks were timely intervened by MAGA, following a regional alert issued by OIRSA and the promotion of the national emergency program for the control and eradication of the flying lobster.

“MAGA technicians have fought the plague since the first reports that farmers in Petén gave us regarding the presence of insects. It has been an arduous work in 1,276 blocks of corn, beans and grass, among others, in 48 communities, ”said Vice Minister of Agricultural Health and Regulations, Víctor Hugo Guzmán.

The vice minister, along with other officials and the executive director of OIRSA, Efraín Medina, toured the municipality of Dolores, Petén, to supervise the chemical and biological control fumigations that are carried out by air and land to reduce the population of the plague, carry out explorations, surveillance and identification of affected areas, among others.

“OIRSA is in direct communication with MAGA and with the other ministries of Agriculture and Livestock in the region, who have everything they need: equipment, personnel, and supplies. All the necessary resources to have an effective control of this plague and that it does not affect the farmers of our region ”, stated the executive director of OIRSA, Efraín Medina.

The Guatemalan MAGA reaffirms its commitment to continue with the work until it manages to control and eradicate this plague.