Rosselkhoznadzor Demands From Belarus To Take Urgent Measures Against Dangerous Beetle

Otherwise, the Russian Federation is going to impose sanctions.

Rosselkhoznadzor asks Belarus to take urgent measures against the dangerous beetle of corn rootworm and keeps plans to impose a ban on the supply of Belarusian crop products, packaging and packing materials in case of non-compliance with RF requirements, interfax.by informs.

According to Rosselkhoznadzor, this was announced during a telephone conversation with the leadership of the Department of Internal and External Plant Quarantine of the State Inspectorate for Seed Production, Quarantine and Plant Protection of Belarus. They discussed the situation with the product supply and the movement of vehicles from Belarus to Russia in connection with the discovery in the territory of Belarus of a quarantine object – the Western corn beetle, or the corn rootworm, which is absent in other EAEC countries.

Since the risk of importing the dangerous insect is high and it poses a real threat to the leading position of the Russian Federation on grain exports, Rosselkhoznadzor asked the Belarusian side to speed up the provision of information on the measures taken to localize and eliminate the beetle.

In addition, Rosselkhoznadzor drew Belarusian colleagues’ attention to the need of taking a set of urgent measures to ensure phytosanitary safety of quarantine products, packaging, packing materials, vehicles passing through or from Belarus. Which includes the need to disinfect vehicles.

At the same time, Rosselkhoznadzor recalled that failure to comply with the requirements of the Russian Federation or the discovery of this quarantine object may serve as a basis for considering the introduction of phytosanitary measures for vehicles passing through the territory of Belarus or from Belarus, as well as for introducing temporary restrictions on the import of quarantine products, packaging, packing materials following from Belarus or through its territory to Russia.

It was reported that in July, Rosselkhoznadzor received information that in 2017, quarantine phytosanitary zones for the corn rootworm were established in Belarus. This dangerous insect can cause irreparable damage to crops, especially to corn.

According to Rosselkhoznadzor, potential harm to the beetle in the territory of the Russian Federation is possible in the zone of sustainable corn cultivation in the Southern Federal District (Krasnodar, Stavropol Territory, Rostov, Volgograd and Astrakhan regions, Kabardino-Balkaria).

The economic damage from the loss of corn yield could amount to 950 million rubles a year.

The corn rootworm comes from North America, where the cost of fighting this insect, taking into account the loss of crops, is about $ 1 billion annually. In Europe, the dangerous beetle was first discovered in 1992, in a corn field near the airport of Belgrade, where it had most likely been brought from the United States by air, the report says. Despite the measures taken, it was not possible to destroy the hotspot.

Since 1994, the insect has been spreading over the corn-sowing regions of Central and Eastern Europe (Hungary, Croatia, Romania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Italy, Slovakia, Switzerland, Austria, Czech Republic, France, Poland, etc.). In 2001, the beetle was first discovered in Transcarpathia (Ukraine) near the border with Hungary and Romania. In 2006, the insects were found in Lviv, Volyn, Ivano-Frankivsk and Ternopil regions of Ukraine.