SAG extends Mediterranean fruit fly quarantine in the Coquimbo Region

The Agricultural and Livestock Service (SAG) expanded the regulated area for the Mediterranean fruit fly (Ceratitis capitata Wied) in the Coquimbo Region and established mandatory phytosanitary measures for its control and eradication. The decision is contained in exempt resolution No. 915, signed in La Serena on September 3, 2026, by the acting regional director Luis Alfonso Morales Azócar, and was published in the Official Gazette No. 44,566, dated October 5, 2026, Section I, pages 1 to 3 (official reference CVE 2880834).

Chile is declared a country free of the Mediterranean fruit fly by exempt resolution No. 3,513 of 1995, modified by resolution No. 1,095 of 2000, both from the National Directorate of SAG. This regulation empowers the Service to adopt the necessary phytosanitary measures upon new detections, and violations are sanctioned according to decree law 3,557 of 1980 on Agricultural Protection.

SAG usually defines its regulated area as the surface included within a radius of 7.2 kilometers from the detection points, a criterion accepted by most export markets. The Chinese market, on the other hand, requires a radius of 27.2 kilometers, which explains the expansion arranged in this resolution.

The detections that triggered the alert

• July 24, 2026: one young wild male specimen in a rural area of the town of Carachilla, commune of Ovalle.
• July 27, 2026: a second young wild male in the same town.
• August 13, 2026: new detections of the pest in the same rural sector.

The new polygon and the affected communes

The regulated area is defined by a polygon of 49 vertices in UTM coordinates, WGS 84 datum (zone 19), which partially incorporates the communes of Monte Patria, Combarbalá, Punitaqui, Ovalle, and Río Hurtado.

Host fruit orchards located within the area are subject to the measures indicated by SAG, and the involved producers must register at the designated offices, providing an estimate of their production by species, variety, and use.

Mandatory phytosanitary measures

• Collection and destruction by fire or burial of fallen fruits.
• Removal and destruction of fruits from host plants.
• Pruning of trees to facilitate spraying or for phytosanitary control purposes.
• Soil removal under the canopy projection and application of insecticide to the soil.
• Immobilization of host fruits, unless expressly authorized by the Service.
• Application of insecticide bait on the foliage and systemic insecticides, in the dose and frequency determined by the SAG.
• Installation of mobile and temporary phytosanitary control posts, inside or outside the regulated area.
• Inspection and verification of origin at horticultural collection centers, whose owners must provide facilities to the inspectors.

Effects on trade and exports

Host products produced within the area and destined for the national market outside of it must undergo quarantine treatment or approved mitigation measures; the use of methyl bromide must be carried out in a chamber authorized by the Service located within the regulated area. Every treated shipment shall be covered by a certificate endorsed by an authorized SAG official.

Export products obtained, packed, or dispatched in the area must comply with the conditions of the destination markets, and their transport to maritime, land, or air ports shall be carried out under the safeguard conditions authorized by the SAG. Means of transport with host products produced outside the area that transit through it must also comply with safeguard conditions.

The resolution orders its notification in the Official Gazette and in the newspapers with the widest circulation in the region, and specifies that the measures may be maintained in accordance with the biological cycles of the pest.

The impact is direct for fruit producers in the province of Limarí: the expansion to 27.2 kilometers keeps the option of exporting to China open, but imposes costs for treatment, certification, and logistical safeguards on every shipment leaving the regulated area.

Source: Official Gazette of the Republic of Chile, No. 44,566, Monday, October 5, 2026, Section I, pp. 1-3 (official reference: CVE 2880834).