The Algarve citrus growers organization (Frusoal) has launched a research laboratory, which begins its activities with a three-year project to study a pest that threatens Algarve’s orchards.
The study, titled “Determination of the Phenology and Life Cycle of Thrips in Algarve Citrus Orchards”, is the first project of the laboratory “Frusoal InovCitrus”, an investment of €515,000, announced by the citrus growers organization in a press release.
The investigation will focus on “Scirtothrips aurantii”, an insect native to South Africa and classified as a quarantine pest in the European Union, whose presence was identified for the first time in Portugal in December 2022, in Tavira, in the Faro district.
“For three years, Algarve citrus cultivation has lived with a pest about which we still know very little,” said Tomás Magalhães, the project’s lead technician, cited in the document, emphasizing that the aim is to turn the lack of knowledge into concrete orchard-protection measures.
The insect attacks shoots, leaves and developing fruits, causing scars on the epidermis of the citrus fruits which, although essentially cosmetic, “can jeopardize marketing and cause economic losses to producers,” notes.
With eggs smaller than 0.2 millimeters and adults about one millimeter long, the pest requires magnification equipment to be identified, while scientific information about its behavior under European conditions “remains limited,” the producers say.
Over the three-year period 2026-2028, the team will monitor the evolution of the insect’s populations in orange, tangerine, lemon and lime orchards, relating its presence to the development of the crops, the edaphoclimatic conditions, the spontaneous vegetation, and the surrounding land uses.
The research will take place in Frusoal’s and its members’ orchards and in fields at the Tavira Agricultural Experimentation Center, in collaboration with InnovPlantProtect and with the support of the Algarve’s Regional Coordination and Development Commission (CCDR Algarve).
The Frusoal InovCitrus Laboratory, which represents an investment of €515,000 for the organization, aims to develop applied research tailored to producers’ needs, including pest and disease control, the valorization of by-products, and the adoption of more sustainable agricultural practices, Frusoal concludes.
