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IPM packages for naranjilla: Sustainable production in an environmentally fragile region

Abstract:

In Ecuador’s Andean foothills, many colonists have planted naranjilla (Solanum quitoense), a perennial shrub and member of the section Lasiocarpa whose fruit is used to make a widely consumed juice. Naranjilla is highly profitable for small-scale farmers, representing one of the few economically profitable land uses in these environmentally vulnerable areas. However, naranjilla production in Ecuador is threatened by severe pest problems and the main solution-continual land-clearing-is environmentally unsustainable. The IPM CRSP invested more than 10 years of research to create an IPM package for naranjilla producers and this chapter describes the process of IPM package development, its components, and some of the potential impact of aggressive diffusion. The key constraint to naranjilla production a vascular wilt, which the IPM CRSP determined is caused by Fusarium oxysporum, is difficult to address through conventional control methods. As a result, hybrid and grafted varieties have been tested and released with uneven success. The CRSP helped develop a grafted version of the common variety and identified complementary pest-control techniques that, when combined with use of the grafted variety, can be used to produce economically and environmentally viable naranjilla fruits.