Feature: Cypriot uses owls, snakes to fight pests killing valuable carob trees

Cypriot environmentalists and conservationists have just started a three-year project to control pests threatening centuries-old carob groves which used to be the source of a sizable income for village farmers a few decades ago.

Urbanization, which started following Cyprus' independence from British colonial rule in 1960, saw the country turn from agriculture to a tourism and financial services based economy, a trend which has caused extensive groves of carob trees to be left unattended and to the mercy of rats.

The variety of black rats, locally known as "pontika" or "big rat" because of its size, apart from feeding on carob pods, gnaw at the bark of the trees, exposing the inner wood and causing the trees to gradually dry up and die.

Another threat to the carob trees are humans who cut them down for firewood. However, the country's forestry department declared carob trees a protected species some years ago and banned people from cutting them down without permission. It also embarked on a campaign to protect them against rats.

Poisoned baits nailed on trunks of the trees or placed inside the trees' cavities proved only partly effective against rats. Moreover, the population control system also occasionally caused the death of birds, reptiles and insects, especially a threatened species of beetle unique to Cyprus, which use carob trees as their habitat.

So environmentalists and conservationists turned to the natural enemies of rats to control their numbers, mainly the barn owl and the non-poisonous black snake.

"A pair of owls can kill up to 3,000 rats a year. So instead of using poison, we prepare nests for owls and reptiles to increase their numbers and let nature take its course," said Lefkios Stergides of conservationist organization Terra Cypria.

The project is being coordinated by Menelaos Stavrinides, an assistant professor at the Cyprus University of Technology in the southern seaside city of Limassol.

"Carob trees are very important for Cyprus. They are characteristic of the island and, despite their diminishing economic importance, they are still important for some communities," he said.

Up to the 1960's, Cyprus exported 53,000 tons of carob pods a year, making the island the third largest exporter.

Carob trees grow along a seaside belt mostly below an altitude of 500 meters. Along Cyprus' coasts, there are still some impressive stone-built buildings which were used both as stores and for loading the produce on boats for export.

The trees need very little attention, exect for occasional pruning to take away dead or weak branches.

Carob pods were used to make animal fodder and the seeds were turned into bean gum used as a thickening agent in food.

The latest available data show that production fell to about 9,000 tons in 2012.

Most of the production is used by local industries for the preparation of pastry, candy and carob syrup, which is said to be a low-calorie sauce for home-made cookies and pancakes which can be consumed by diabetics.

Most of these industries are operating in agricultural communities with a tradition in carob production.

Anogyra, a well-preserved stone-built village perched on a mountain overlooking the Mediterranean Sea west of Limassol, is one of the communities still actively engaged in producing carob. Many of its inhabitants derive their living from carob products, such as the "pasteli", a local variety of hard candy, and carob syrup.

"We have been doing this for centuries. Carob groves in the village were there when my grandfather was young and they are still part of our life. Anogyra has been famed for its 'pasteli' and carob-syrup all along," said Michalis Makris, an elderly farmer still active in carob producing.

A large part of the three-year rat-control project is centered on Anogyra. Endit