Morobe has no coffee berry borers: Dambui

Coffee gardens in Menyamya, Morobe, is free of berry borers, said Coffee Industry Corporation chief executive Charles Dambui as he clears any misunderstanding of the situation there.
“Menyamya and Morobe is free from the CBB beetle.”
He said surveys show that the pest is restricted to the Asaro Valley area of Eastern Highlands and Jiwaka’s Banz district.
Dambui was reacting to a newspaper report (not The National) that a one-hectare farm in Menyamya had berry borers. He said the report was false.
“The CBB pest is a serious threat to the (coffee) industry and such reports can create false alarm or panic among stakeholders including growers in Morobe, a large coffee-producing province in the country,” he said.
He calls on growers to contact the nearest CIC office if they see or suspect the presence of coffee berry borers in their gardens.
The report quoted Yonah Kapitena, a coffee farmer in Menyamya, as saying the yield from his 1000-hectare farm had dropped from more than 60 50kg bags in 2016 to 30 10kg bags between Sept and Oct last year. He said five to 10 coffee trees were dying.
He didn’t attribute the loss in yield to the coffee borer.
Dambui said the drop in yield in 2017 was expected and was caused by the heavy harvest in 2016. He said CIC officers will be at Kapitena’s garden to see why trees are dying.