The peasants of San José de Oriente, jurisdiction of the municipality of La Paz, expressed their concern about the excessive proliferation of African snails that have reached the crops in the lower zone, where there are crops of corn, cassava and vegetables.
Also read: Visit of the superintendent of services to Valledupar is postponed: What will happen to Emdupar?
They also indicated that the most serious thing would be if the mollusks reach the mountains where they grow coffee, cilantro, lulo, coriander, tomato, blackberry and others.
“We have made this known to the Mayor’s Office of Peace and the Interior and everything has remained under supervision and meetings without providing help to the peasantry so that the snails do not continue to reproduce, because we manually and artisanally remove what we can, but they they reproduce in 24 hours, lay eggs and immediately there are too many”said Rubén Torres, a farmer.
To try to eradicate the snails, they are buying quicklime that they combine with salt and manually add it to the snails. “It is not all the peasants who have the possibility of buying more inputs and for this reason we ask for an intervention with experts so that the snails disappear, we do not want to lose the crops”, pointed out Rubén Torres.
The director of the Municipal Unit for Agricultural Technical Assistance, UMATA, of the municipality of La Paz, Ricardo Armenta, stated that they have made visits to the area where the molluscs are once again present with the commitment to provide the farmers with inputs such as lime and salt.
“In San José de Oriente, in the urban area, they are in the patios, the same as in Betania and in the closest villages, and we received unpleasant news because despite the fact that the garbage collection truck passes three times a week, they are throwing waste to the highest parts and that is where the mollusk can go, contaminating the rest of the population and for this reason we ask the community to make good use of the garbage“said the official.
Do not stop reading: In Valledupar they will also march to support the Government of President Petro
He added that They have conducted training with the community for the treatment of solid waste and so that they do not have contact with snails.
Finally, he indicated that they have called the Ministry of Agriculture, as it is a problem that compromises the livelihood of peasants, as well as the Ministry of the Environment, since the municipality of La Paz does not have the necessary resources.