The picudo rojo is still with us

Every where you go you can see the evidence. palm trees that are dying, trees with their tops removed and gaps where the trees have been taken away. The red palm weevil, which is devastating the Mediterranean palm trees, is far from being under control.

The Government recognizes the seriousness of this pest, but rarely provides specific data about the extent of the problem.

Yesterday, the multinational cement company, Cemex shed some light on the seriousness of this problem by saying that, in the past 10 months, it had burnt around 6,000 tonnes of palm weevil affected trees in its  kilns. Translated into units that would be about 3,100 trees.

However, botanists and nurserymen estimate that the actual number of trees affected may well be  double that.

On a positive note, the cement company says that by burning palm trees rather than fossil fuels they have reduced the carbon dioxide output from their Buñol  plant by  5,000 tons between February and November.