Some 3,000 fig trees will be distributed to farmers across the island in a bid to counter the devastation caused by a parasite, Agriculture Parliamentary Secretary Clint Camilleri told the Times of Malta.
The move comes as farmers have again raised concerns that the indigenous fig tree could soon face extinction if action is not taken.
Concerned farmers have recently contacted the Times of Malta to sound the alarm about how locally grown figs could disappear from the market as thousands of trees have been decimated by a pest in a few years.
The fig tree borer, better known under the Maltese umbrella term ‘susa’, eats its way into the tree’s bark, feasting on the tree’s nutrient-rich sap to the point of starving the plant.
Locally grown fig could disappear
Early green figs (bajtar ta’ San Ġwann), which mature in the second week of June, used to be found in abundance, as much as dry purple figs (farkizzan), a variety that is produced by the same tree at a later stage in August. However, farmers said they were less than hopeful for this year’s harvest.
“I don’t know what to do to be honest,” farmer John Portelli, of Mġarr, said.
“At this rate we will be talking about figs as a kind of fruit we used to have on the island.”
The Plant Health Directorate monitors local plants and pests. It recently compiled a pamphlet, instructing farmers on how to deal with infected trees.
The directorate’s Monitoring and Control Department has also instructed farmers to prune all infected trees.
Mr Camilleri said thousands of new trees would be given to farmers whose trees had been registered as lost due to the pest.
Back in 2015, the Times of Malta had reported how the government was using in vitro technology to grow the trees in specialised labs.
Known as micropropogation, the in vitro process is commonly used to produce a large number of ‘offspring plants’. The method employs tissue culture methods similar to those used for the scientific production of organs.
Meanwhile, the University of Malta has been roped in to study the insect’s behaviour in a bid to control it.
Farmers have been advised to treat infected trees with pesticides containing the active ingredient Etofentrox as well as any directorate-approved fungicide to help protect healthy trees from falling prey to the pests.