Coffee borer concerns linger

Weekender

By LEO WAFIWA & CORA MOABI
THE coffee berry borer threat is real and can destroy an industry which supports close to three million rural-based growers whose wellbeing depends entirely on this tree of life.
“If we do not take the threat seriously, imagine the economic and social consequences?” asks Joseph Kom, chairman of the coffee corporation’s board and chairman of the PNG Smallholder Coffee Growers’ Association.
“Almost all industry stakeholders, including the regulating agency Coffee Industry Corporation would reduce or shut down their operations. We can have a mass lay-off of workers.
“The chaos and crisis situation at the growers’ and hauslain level is hard to imagine. A rise in law and order issues is imminent.
“Promiscuous activity is always an easy means to an income in these circumstances. Traveling along the Highlands Highway would no longer be safe.  Hold-ups and assault can occur just because people want money.
“I’m calling on the government to consider the welfare of its people, particularly the three million growers scattered across the countryside whose livelihood depends entirely on coffee.”
According to the Coffee Industry Corporation, there is already a blow-out situation.  “The farmer and the CBB pest will fight for the same bean where a 17 kilogram cherry bean will end up producing only one kilogram parchment coffee,” says Dr Reuben Sengere, the man in charge of logistics for the coffee borer operation.
“Hence despite the hard work the return to farmers will reduce drastically and they will abandon their coffee gardens.”
Since the announcement in February that the coffee borer has infected beans in Banz, Jiwaka, infestation has spread to Eastern Highlands with an increase from 16 to more than 70 gardens in Asaro district since March. The corporation’s latest report adds that the number of gardens infected in Jiwaka has increased from eight to 14.
The total land area of coffee gardens infected by the borer in Eastern Highlands is 186.7 hectares, and is expected to increase when more survey data is made available.
“CIC is now working with farmers to contain further spread of the coffee borer. Our challenge now is to increase manpower to implement the containment programme. We are standing down some of our ongoing coffee activities to divert our limited staff and resources into the containment programme.”
The corporation’s chief executive, Charles Dambui, says that the identification of the level of infestation within infected sites  in each garden has begun with monitoring being done through trapping while sanitation work in gardens is ongoing.
He says that after more surveys in Eastern Highlands, a total of three plantations show the presence of the pest: Roka and Wantrifu in Asaro and Arikayufa in the Unggai-Bena district.  The block holders include Gire Gire, Paul Asaro, and David Mehuwo – all from Asaro Valley.
“We are now into the containment exercise and if no approved government funding is released immediately, there is likely to be a major outbreak of the borer in Eastern Highlands and it will spread to nearby provinces including Morobe and Simbu,” says  Dambui.
Kom says Eastern Highlands and Western Highlands are key coffee-producing provinces, which between them account for more than 80 per cent of production (about a million bags).
Goroka, in Eastern Highlands, is the major commercial centre for coffee, and the headquarters of several large coffee exporters and industry regulating agency CIC.
He says government financial support is pending but CIC and the National Agriculture Quarantine and Investigation Authority (Naqia) are doing their best to contain the spread.
“The coffee borer pest incursion must not be seen only as a national threat to the rural growers, but the survival and operation of many stakeholder organisations in the coffee-value-chain.
“These are businesses from processing and exporting to trucking services and other spin-off businesses in retail outlets in the highlands. These operations provide employment to thousands of citizens.”
He points out that coffee earns more than K600 million for the country and supports more than half the population, but it is now in grave danger because of the borer infestation.
A joint submission by CIC and Naqia was made through the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock in February this year.
The submission was for a funding of K60 million to help stop the coffee borer. CIC says it needs the cooperation of all stakeholders including the Department of Treasury and Department of Finance to have the funds released.
The government says it will give K20 million as an upfront payment, but to date CIC and Naqia have been operating with zero government support.
The CBB threat is serious.
Like all other government-funded organisations, CIC and Naqia haven’t received their full funding for the first quarter of 2017. Consequently CIC has stopped all other operations including its popular freight surety service for rural farmers and have diverted its limited funds to fighting the borer.
The manager farmer training, Matei Labun, explains that gardens infested with coffee berry borers are mainly smallholders (0-5 ha), with a few block holders (6-20 ha) and plantations (20-plus ha).
He says the importance of awareness and training cannot be stressed enough as it will be an important aspect of efforts in the education of farmers.
“Farmer education with the use of visual aids has raised the level of awareness triggering concern by farmers and others who attended the awareness meetings carried out by the technical team in the last couple of months.”
Labun says new infected gardens are being reported by farmers, making it easy for the delimiting survey and containment team to immediately attend to the sites and confirm the borer’s presence. CIC general manager for research Dr Mark Kenny says 45,589 trees have been pruned in highly infested sites to destroy all remaining borer food source. There have been substantial crop losses from those pruned trees.
“To date farmers with coffee berry borer presence in their gardens have been very helpful and co-operative by voluntarily allowing the containment team to move in swiftly to work in the infected gardens.”
He says rehabilitation work in terms of sanitation, pruning, cherry stripping, spraying of insecticide and herbicide will continue for the rest of the year.

  • The authors are media officers for Coffee Industry corporation.