Pest Management
Banana Scab Moth
NARI Keravat undertakes a Banana Scab Moth (BSM) project. This project researches into
the pre-harvest control of BSM, Nacolea octasema , on banana plants, especially
in endemic areas of Papua New Guinea (PNG) such as the East New Britain Province (ENBP).
Banana farmers in ENBP do not seriously practise any BSM control method. The level of
damage caused by this disease is serious and farmers have to practise control methods
to minimise and eliminate its population.
A series of control
methods were tested to see their effectiveness. They include cleaning and removing bract
covers, wrapping with banana leaves and spraying chemical with a hand sprayer.
Banana farmers in the Central and Morobe Provinces and some areas in the Highlands
practice these methods.
In PNG BSM is spreading to areas where it has not been recorded as a problem. The increase in people population and land resettlement system indicates to farmers that it is time to change their way of gardening and have BSM control methods in place.
Control methods
- Natural Control: Banana gardens should be kept clean and in good condition. Good air circulation and sunlight will discourage the BSM and decrease the population.
- Physical Control (Gardening practise): Wrapping banana bunches will require them to be clean, thus preventing any debris and insects. Removing bracts on the emerging and immature banana bunch expose the BSM to sunlight and rain.
- Insecticide Control: Chemical recommended to treat BSM in Australia is Chlorpyrifos (Lorsban). Work and reports by R. W. Pain show that Lorsban is effective and is recommended in Australia and can also be used in PNG. A ‘Bell Injector' is used to apply the chemical into immature bells. A modified wooden bell injector was invented and it performed quite well compared to the custom made Queensland Banana Bell Injector.
Crazy Ants in Manus Province
Crazy ants have been reported to be an enormous social pest in Manus Province.
Previously found only in some Western islands off Manus Island , the ants have now
spread to few areas on the main island. They have also spread to other islands north
and south of Manus including Andra, Ahus and Onita, Low village on Manus, Panusela village
on Rambutso Island , Rei village on Lou Island and Takumal atoll off Baluan Island.
The ants have established themselves in village house roofs and are a major nuisance
to daily human livelihood.
In the early 1980's, Dr John Moxon (Research Programme Leader of NARI Keravat) carried out some pest control work on the crazy ants using sick crazy ants collected at Keravat. The sick ants are a potential control option but due to the wider distribution in Manus today, the pathogen responsible for causing the ants to become sick should be identified and its biology understood before further work is done. Samples of sick crazy ants have been sent to the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) in Canberra for pathogen identification.
Sweet Potato Insect Pests in West New Britain Province
The West New Britain Provincial Government raised an issue on a pest problem on sweet potato in their Kandrian District, south of Kimbe town. An investigation survey identified the problem to be sweet potato weevil and the diamond-back moth. The investigation report recommended no further planting of sweet potato in the area. Some sweet potato drought-tolerant varieties and corn and bean seeds were sent to the area from Keravat.
Banana Pests
A number of banana pest control options have been put together as a package
to manage the following banana pests: banana scab moth, grey weevil, and
banana fruit fly. This includes a control method using the sun. The technology
package was recently released during the Lowlands Agricultural Experiment
Station's 75 th anniversary field day and NARI's 6 th anniversary in 2004.
Pre-harvest control methods of bell injecting and bagging have been observed
to have a positive impact on reducing the mentioned banana pests.
Taro Beetle Management in PNG & Fiji
The current Taro Beetle Management project builds on from a previous Pacific Regional Agricultural Programme (PRAP) project which sought to develop control measures for taro beetles. While there were elements of biological, chemical and cultural controls in the PRAP project, the main emphasis was on the development of biological control methods. The rationale for the approach was the successful biological control of a related pest in the Pacific - the coconut rhinoceros beetle (Oryctes rhinoceros ) using baculovirus.
In 2000, PNG produced an estimated 332,000 tons of taro (Wiles, pers. comm.) while Fiji produced 25,000 tons on a 3,000 ha land each (www.apps.fao.org). Taro beetles caused an estimated 30% yield loss in PNG (Gaupu et al 1992, Masamdu & Simbiken, in press) – the equivalent of about AUD $45.9 million annually (Wiles, pers. comm.). In Fiji the average loss in experimental control plots was 33%.
The project team is comprised of research staff from NARI in PNG, Secretariat of the
South Pacific Community in Fiji , CSIRO in Canberra Australia and AgResearch in New
Zealand. Project activities are carried out at Koronivia Research Station in Fiji
and NARI Bubia and Keravat in PNG.
The objective of the project is to develop and transfer to farmers taro beetle control practises that, when integrated into sustainable cropping systems, reduce taro beetle damage in farmers' fields and increase taro production and restore trade of quality taro.
Red-Banded Mango Caterpillar Project
This project is titled “Biology, Damage Levels and Control of Red Banded Mango Caterpillar in Papua New Guinea .” It began in July 2003 and will end in June 2006.
Red-Banded Mango Caterpillar (RBMC) [Deanolis sublimbalis, Snellen; Lepidoptera: Pyralidae] is distributed throughout most of South East Asia , usually in low numbers. It is present in PNG and on a few islands in the Torres Strait . Most recently, the pest was detected on Badu island (August 1999) and Gabba (September 2000). In PNG and Indonesia, it is considered to be a significant pest of mango, with fruit losses of 30-40%. This makes it a serious quarantine concern to all in this region.
Management of RBMC is severely hampered because very little is known about the
pest. A recent review (Waterhouse 1998) found only 19 references that directly talk
about RBMC – and most are in the form of reports rather than detailed biological
studies or chemical trials.
A priority need for both PNG and Australia is knowledge of the ecology and life history of RBMC in relation to incursion and management – full life cycle details, whether or not the insect diapauses, pheromone synthesis and host range.
The project aims to learn more about RBMC and its habits, to manage the pest and reduce crop losses and to provide sound incursion management strategies. Project activities are based at NARI Kilakila and Keravat.
Plan Derived Pesticides Outreach and Liaison Project
This project is titled “Study to assess the optimum strategies for technology adoption, effectiveness and impact of a new Plant-Derived-Pesticide Technology for farmers in the East New Britain Province of Papua New Guinea.”
It has three main objectives:
- To produce appropriate extension materials on Plant-Derived-Pesticides (PDPs) in the forms of toktoks (leaflets), information bulletins, posters, radio programmes and videos for use by extension providers and farmers in PNG.
- To evaluate the effectiveness of the PDPs when used by small holder farmers
- To determine farmer acceptance, adoption/impact of the three selected PDPs on smallholder vegetable farms in East New Britain in relation to different methods of information delivery and the benefit/cost implications of the different delivery mechanisms.
For further information, Contact
NARI Wet Lowlands Islands Programme
P.O Box 204, KOKOPO
East New Britian Province
Papua New Guinea
Phone: (675) 983 9145
Fax: (675) 983 9129
Email: nariwlip@nari.org.pg