National Sterile Insect Technique Day, Tuesday 2 December 2025 at the CTIFL centre in Balandran.

The Mediterranean Fruit Fly, or medfly, Ceratitis capitata, Wied. is an endemic pest in the fruit growing areas on the Mediterranean coast of Spain. If no control measures are applied, C. capitata could result in important economic losses in crops, such as citrus, persimmon, peaches, apples, pears or figs. The Valencian Community (Spain) is the largest national producer and the leading region on fresh citrus export in the world, and C. capitata is a quarantine pest for several destination countries. For over 50 years, the Department of Agriculture of Valencia leads, promotes and carries out a program to manage C. capitata, especially on citrus fruits. Traditionally, pest control was based on the use of insecticides. However, from 2003 to 2006 a successful pilot project in which Integrated Pest Management (IPM) strategy based on the Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) was conducted. These good results boosted the implementation in 2007 of an Area Wide Integrated Pest Management (AW-IPM) Programm for the suppression of C. capitata in which SIT is the primary method of application. A mass rearing facility for the production of medfly sterile males was built in Caudete de las Fuentes (Valencia) in 2006. It is currently one of the largest facilities in the world, with a maximum production capacity of 500 million sterile pupae per week. Through a monitoring network installed throughout the working area, the population level is known and the most adequate tool is applied: mass trapping, ground chemical treatments, distribution of traps to the farmers and installation of traps on isolated hosts. This Programme is implemented by the state-owned company Grupo TRAGSA. As a result, there has been a large reduction (more than 90%) in the use of insecticide by aerial means to control C. capitata as well as a rising trend in the export of citrus and fresh fruits from the Valencian Region in recent years.