Using less of these chemicals to grow crops is a step on the way to creating a healthier and more respectful life with the environment.
Pesticides are chemicals used to control pests (insects, mites, fungi, oomycetes, bacteria, viruses, nematodes, snails, rodents and weeds) that affect crops. In many cases, it is believed that the use of pesticides are not necessary, and can be replaced by other forms of control such as replacing chemicals with aromatic plants (fennel, rosemary, basil …), with regard to fruit crops pesticides could be hung from trees in bottles rather than being sprayed on the tree and surrounding land.
While the initiative is aimed at all citizens, it is the local farmers around Nerja that the programme is trying to educate by showing them how natural products can replace the use of pesticides.
The campaign also shows how pesticides not only kill pests but also bees that play a key role in pollination of fruit crops and vegetables. Without bees, all of the animals that eat those plants and so on up the food chain would not survive.
