THE Government itself cannot stop the spread of the Cocoa Pod Borer (CPB) into East Sepik but would need the combine efforts of the villagers and public at large to fight the invasion of the borer.
CPB Emergency Response Unit (ERU) officer Peter Loff said it was people who have relatives on either side of the border and they had the power to report suspected movement of quarantined materials at the border.
Mr Loff was addressing villagers at Salamin CPB check point last Saturday situated at the border of the East Sepik and Saudaun provinces.
He said CPB was dangerous to the cocoa industry of East Sepik given the fact that a mother moth can lay 200 eggs and in just 20 weeks it multiplies to some 400 millions new moths that can completely wipe out cocoa production.
East Sepik produces K24 million in cocoa export earnings annually, of which Angoram only contributes around 2,000 tonnes at K4,000 per tonne, an equivalent of around K8 million annually.
With the declaration of the CPB in Aitape last June, the Government quickly established the ERU which coordinates two check points at Salamin and Warasikau to monitor and counter further spread.
Already some 28,000 people have been checked, 1,505 vehicles sprayed, passenger baggage on nine coastal vessels were checked, 84 banana boats checked, 390 canoes were sprayed, passenger luggage on 30 Air Link flights into Taji airport checked, 979 transit certificates issued, 48kg of plant materials destroyed, 154kg of various vegetables destroyed and 158 quarantined awareness meetings conducted.
Under containment and eradication, Aitape had buried some 720,644 CPB infected cocoa pods with an estimated value of more than K500,000.