Cochineal destroys up to 80% of prickly pear plants in Cyprus, farmers to receive predatory beetles at the end of October

The cochineal pest (Dactylopius opuntiae) has destroyed up to 80% of prickly pear plants in affected areas of Cyprus, the Department of Agriculture said. Losses on registered plantations are estimated at around 40%.

The insect was first found in Cyprus in 2016, and over the past ten years it has spread across the island: cochineal sucks sap from the shoots, causing the plant to dry out and die. Chemical treatment against the pest is largely ineffective, so the focus has shifted to biological control.

The Israeli beetle Hyperaspis trifurcata, which feeds almost exclusively on this pest, is being used against cochineal: a single beetle destroys up to 5,000 larvae during its lifetime. The first batch was released in June at four pilot sites; the insects were brought by researchers from Israel, where cochineal appeared in 2013.

Bad weather delayed the programme: hail on 29 August damaged the beetle breeding sites. As Marcos Markou, a senior plant protection officer at the Department of Agriculture in Larnaca District, acknowledged, the programme has suffered a setback — many prickly pear plants died, and the population of beneficial insects was also affected.

Professional growers will receive the beetles at the end of October, while other plantation owners will receive them in 2027. Menelaos Stavrinidis, an associate professor at the Cyprus University of Technology (TEPAK), warns that it is still too early to assess the method’s effectiveness: at the initial stage, the Israeli beetles had to be helped to spread.