News Release from the Hawaii Department of Agriculture
Official document for download
For Release: September 8, 2010
NR10-11
Serious coffee pest
detected in Kona
HONOLULU – One of the most devastating coffee
pests, the coffee berry borer (Hypothenemus
hampei), has been found in several coffee farms in Kona. The coffee berry borer is a small beetle and
is native to Central Africa and is also found in many coffee-growing regions of
the world, including Central and South America. The beetle bores into the coffee “cherry” to
lay its eggs. The larvae feed on the
coffee bean, reducing the yield and quality of the bean. Because the larvae are
inside the bean, it makes it difficult to control by pesticides.
Staff
from the University of Hawai`i at Manoa, College of Tropical
Agriculture and Human Resources (UH-CTAHR),
collected the beetles from several farms in Kona and dropped off samples to the
Hawai`i Department of Agriculture on September 2nd. The
identification of coffee bean borer beetle was confirmed today by the U.S.
Department of Agriculture entomology laboratory in Riverdale, MD.
HDOA
entomologists from Honolulu and Hawai`i Island
are organizing surveys on all islands to determine the extent of the
infestation; however, early indications are that the beetle is established from
Kainaliu to Honaunau on the west coast of Hawai`i Island. Discussions with coffee growers this week
indicate that the beetle may have been present for more than a year, but was
only reported last week.
It
is not known how the coffee berry borer was introduced to Hawai`i.
Hawai`i
has strict importation rules that require quarantine fumigation of all imported
green coffee beans to rid the beans of pathogens and insect pests. Coffee plants and plant parts are also
restricted from being imported to Hawai`I
under Plant Quarantine rules.
- more -
“This is
terrible news for our important coffee industry,” Sandra Lee Kunimoto,
Chairperson of the Hawai`i Board of Agriculture. “It appears that this pest has been here for several
years and may be well established in some growing areas in South
Kona. Staff from the department and the University of Hawai`i
have already begun to investigate various control methods, including biological
control which involves finding natural enemies of this beetle.”
UH-CTAHR Extension
Specialist for Coffee, H.C. "Skip" Bittenbender,
Ph.D., has sent the
following recommendations to Hawai`i
growers to help manage their coffee fields to try and lessen the impact of the
coffee berry borer:
§
Reduce heavy shade*
- Prune coffee to keep the bush as
open as possible*
*to create a less humid environment for the beetle
- Picking should take place at
least once a week in the main harvest season and once a month at other
times to prevent over-ripe infested cherries falling to the ground where
adult females can survive and attack out-of-season cherries.
- Cherries should be left on the
ground as little as possible. Dropped cherries will provide a source for
beetles to reinfest the next crop.
- All infested cherries should be
destroyed by burning, deep burying or if possible rapid sun-drying.
- Before a main flowering the crop
should be stripped completely.
If
Hawai`i
coffee growers suspect they have the coffee berry borer, they should call the
HDOA Plant Pest Control Branch on O`ahu at (808) 973-9522 or e-mail: [email protected]
###
EDITORS:
To obtain digital photo files of the beetle, please e-mail: [email protected]
Media
Contact:
Janelle
Saneishi
Public Information Officer
Hawai`i Department of Agriculture
Phone: (808) 973-9560
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://hawaii.gov/hdoa
