AUTHORITIES in the East Sepik province are worried that some 40,000 cocoa farmers will suffer losses in income if the cocoa pod borer (CPB) invades the province.
The CPB was already in the neighbouring Sandaun province and there were fears the pest could get into the province.
It is believed the CPB, which originated from Asia, was allowed into the country because of lack of quarantine and proper surveillance at the border areas.
The province is a major cocoa producer contributing some K24 million annually to the national coffers from cocoa exports.
Cocoa farmers in the province have been on alert since the detection of the pest in Sandaun.
Conrad Aniam, a cocoa farmer and fermentry operator in East Sepik, accused the government of neglecting quarantine services along the border areas, adding it had allowed for invasion of foreign agents such as pests and diseases.
Mr Aniam, of Lowon village in Dagua district, said he earn K1,000 a fortnight from dry bean sales and if Lowon was declared a quarantine zone by the government in the event of a CPB outbreak, he would not allow his trees to be cut until the government compensated his losses.
Mr Aniam was speaking during a meeting at Lowon village last week with the CPB Emergency Response Unit (ERU) of the Cocoa Coconut Institute (CCI) based in Wewak.
The ERU team headed by coordinator Stephen Mombi, has been closely monitoring the CPB situation in villages near East Sepik and Sandaun borders in case of a spill-over from Aitape (Sandaun) where the government had declared a quarantine zone.
Mr Mombi said since the declaration, Aitape had cut down 14,570 cocoa trees, pruned 24,416 trees and 233 holes dug and 408,329 pods buried in a bid to contain the borer from spreading.
He said about 200 awareness meetings were held with farmers and hundreds of information pamphlets were distributed.
Radio was also used to disseminate information and raise awareness among people.
He said currently there were tighter surveillance of people and transportations into all border areas with quarantine checks.
Mr Mombi said the CCI currently had contingency plans, among them, being the contribution of high yield rice seeds as substitute to farmers whose cocoa trees were cut while some 100,000 cocoa seedlings were procured and distributed for replanting.
He said CCI was also conducting training of small-scale down-stream processing coconut products such as soap making, oil, cakes, biscuits and other related products for farmers to engage, in the event of an outbreak.