Argentina: Alerts are issued for sunflowers due to a threat coming from Bolivia

Following Bolivia's declaration on the observation of Orobanche in its territory in the plantations of this crop, the National Service of Health and Agri-Food Quality (Senasa) reported that it has started monitoring actions in order to prevent the entry into Argentina of this species that represents a risk for local production and that, for now, is absent in our territory. The national agency indicated that both the public and private sectors are joining forces, "with the aim of defining articulated strategies to draw up a surveillance network for the early detection and control of the pest, in the event of an eventual incursion of the same." Sunflower on alert Orobanche cumana is a parasitic plant that feeds at the expense of the water and nutrients it extracts from the sunflower, causing it to stop growing, and may even cause its death. Its tiny seeds can be dispersed by wind, water, animals or man and can even adhere to the surface of machinery, tools and clothing, which is why ...