Stopping the coffee berry borer in its tracks

Overview

Results

The team

Related information

So what's the problem?

The coffee berry borer, Hypothenemus hampei, is the most damaging pest of coffee crops. It has wrought havoc in the coffee regions of many countries around the world, including Indonesia, South America and South East Asia, and it is now threatening to cross the West Papua border into Papua New Guinea – one of the last two remaining coffee nations without the pest. If successful, it will almost certainly plunge the coffee industry – said to be worth 400 million kina per year (US $145 million) – into extreme danger.

The coffee berry borer causes premature fruit-fall and reduces both the weight and quality of the coffee bean. Coffee is extremely important to Papua New Guinea and its close neighbour, Indonesia, both economically and socially. In Indonesia, over 95% of coffee is planted by smallholder famers. But with the borer already infesting over 920,000 ha and causing an annual production loss of around 15-20%, coffee farming is becoming increasingly difficult. In Papua New Guinea, coffee is the largest earner of foreign exchange within the agricultural sector accounting for nearly a half of all agricultural exports and around 10% of total exports.

With the pest present in several areas of Papua Province in Indonesia, coffee farmers in Papua New Guinea are becoming increasingly anxious as it nears their border. The coffee berry borer's incursion into the country will jeopardize the income of around two million people, many of whom are poor smallholders. The lucrative coffee industry in Australia, although small, will also come under threat.

What is this project doing?

This project applies CABI’s vast experience of managing the coffee berry borer gained in Africa and Latin America to address the problem in Indonesia. CABI will be spearheading a team of researchers from a number of partner organisations. The team will be paying particular attention to Sulawesi and Papua in Indonesia, where they aim to manage the pest problem, whilst putting prevention and incursion procedures in place in Papua New Guinea, where the pest is not yet known to occur.

The management aspect of the project will emphasize the need to implement a situation-specific programme of surveillance and awareness, appropriate integrated pest management (IPM) research, and building knowledge and skills through participatory training. Prevention and incursion management will emphasize the needs to build capacity to allow proper quarantine procedures, early detection and an effective emergency response should the pest enter the country.

Results so far

Much has already been achieved in this project. Master facilitators have been trained in integrated pest management (IPM) for coffee, with particular attention to the coffee berry borer and how to control it effectively and sustainably. Similarly, farmer field schools have been run to good effect. We have found that a combination of treatments, including pruning, sanitation, application of Beauveria bassiana (a fungus) and attractant (ethanol-methanol) trapping, gives the highest profit margin.

Two integrated pest management trials have been run in Indonesia to good effect and the results presented along with further information about the pest at the International Association of Coffee Sciences (ASIC) meeting.

Detected in Papua New Guinea in 2009 (on the border with Indonesia) and successfully contained and eradicated, the team sought the coffee berry borer’s possible route into the country. Three pathways were identified; human movement; export and import of coffee; and internal movement of coffee. Based on these, surveillance strategies and sampling methods for the pest have been developed for implementation.

The team is also producing materials to help build public awareness of the pest on the border between Papua New Guinea and Papua in Indonesia.

Project reports

Project flyer

Project Executive