SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE 4 Sep. (EUROPA PRESS) –

The Vice-President of the Cabildo of Tenerife, Lope Afonso, and the Councillor for the Primary Sector, Valentín González, announced in a meeting with over 150 winegrowers from the Tacoronte Acentejo Regulatory Council that a contract has been formalised with GMR (Management of Rural Environment), an agency under the Canary Islands Government, valued at nearly 150,000 euros. This will see the addition of 8 new technicians dedicated to controlling the phylloxera pest.

This new team will augment the existing group of 22 Agricultural Extension technicians and an additional 9 technicians assigned to various services within the Cabildo’s Agriculture department, who have so far conducted more than 1,600 inspections across the island.

The Vice-President emphasised the “absolute commitment of the island institution to prevent the spread of phylloxera on the island.” He noted, “The focus is very localized—so far, only 50 plants have been affected by the pest—and we will continue to work closely with the Canary Islands Government to ensure this remains the case.”

Afonso highlighted the “fundamental role” played by the winegrowers themselves, who are “our eyes in the Tenerife countryside,” collaborating closely with them to achieve the goal of controlling the outbreak of phylloxera detected at the end of July in Valle de Guerra.

In a related statement, Councillor Valentin González underscored the significance of bringing in these 8 technicians to ensure “the maximum possible resources” are available for the grape harvest campaign, enabling necessary visits to farms and the issuing of mandatory reports as per the order issued by the Canary Islands Government. This is aimed at minimising the impact on winegrowers and other economic agents involved in this sector.

Information sessions with winegrowers have been held across various winemaking regions on the island and will continue this afternoon in Valle de Guerra, where the phylloxera outbreak was detected in late July.

Afonso and González announced that an emergency meeting of the Island Wine Table has been called for this Monday, intending to provide all available information to the various stakeholders in the winemaking sector, “involving them in the fight against this pest, which does not affect the quality of Tenerife’s wine but poses a risk to the livelihood of the vines.”