Editing Nopal (section)

== Economic value ==
[[File:Nopales de General Treviño.jpg|thumb|''Nopal'' pads in northeast of México]]
The ''nopal'' cactus grows extensively throughout Mexico, being especially abundant in the central Mexican arid and semi arid regions. In Mexico there are over {{convert|3,000,000|ha|acre|lk=on}} of land used to cultivate ''nopal''. There are three typical ways to cultivate ''nopal'' cacti&nbsp;— commercial plantations, family farms and gardens, or in the wild. Approximately {{convert|57,000|ha|acre}} are used to produce prickly pear fruit, {{convert|10,500|ha|acre}} for the pads production, and {{convert|100|ha|acre}} to [[cochineal]] production.{{Citation needed|date=April 2015}} In 1996 there were {{convert|10,300|ha|acre|lk=on}} prickly pear farmers, as well as around 8000 general ''nopal'' farmers, with all of the people involved in the processing industries and in cochineal production, employing a significant number of the Mexican population.{{Citation needed|date=April 2015}} ''Nopal'' is grown in eighteen of the Mexican states with 74% in the [[Mexico City]] metropolitan area, with an annual yield of {{formatnum:58000}} tons{{which|date=August 2019}} of both the ''tuna'' and the pads.<ref>{{cite journal|last= Vigueras |first= G.A.L |author2= Portillo, L. |title= Uses of Opuntia Species and the Potential Impact of Cactoblastis cactorum (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) in Mexico |journal= The Florida Entomologist |date= December 2001 |volume= 84 |issue= 4 |pages= 493–498 | doi= 10.2307/3496377 |url= http://journals.fcla.edu/flaent/article/download/74993/72651 |jstor= 3496377 |doi-access= free |url-access= subscription }}</ref> The farming of ''nopal'' provides many subsistence communities with employment, food, income, and allows them to remain on their land.

Detection of the cactus-eating moth ''[[Cactoblastis cactorum]]'' in Mexico in 2006 caused anxiety among the country's [[Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures|phytosanitary]] authorities, as this insect can be potentially devastating for the cactus industry.<ref>[https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mexico-cactus-idUSN1634865620070217 Cactus-eating moth threatens favorite Mexican food] (Mon Feb 19, 2007)</ref> In 1925, the same insect was successfully used in [[Australia]] to control the quickly growing population of cactus, which had become an [[invasive species]] after its introduction.<ref name="patt">Patterson, Ewen K. 1936. The World's First Insect Memorial. "The Review of the River Plate", December pp. 16–17</ref>