Red Palm Weevil
Red palm weevil (Rhynchophorus ferrugineus) is considered one of the most hazardous pests of date palm as it causes serious damage and is difficult to control. The pest is present in southern Asia, North Africa and even Southern Europe where it attacks coconut, sago, date, and oil palms. The number of countries reporting a presence is growing.
Biology
With a prolific breed cycle, the Red Palm Weevil has several generations a year and is a strong flyer, able to fly more than 1km. It is a large insect (>25 mm long), red in colour with black spots. Adult weevils are attracted to young or damaged palms where they lay their eggs. The larvae tunnel into the terminal bud or trunk of the tree, often leading directly to its death. When a palm is severely infested, the stem or crown sometimes breaks off the tree. This hidden tunnelling activity usually means the pest is detected at a very late stage and as an internal feeder it is difficult to develop and control programmes.
Control tactics are largely based on insecticide applications, but success has been achieved with integrated pest management (IPM) strategies using pheromone traps and biological control rather than insecticides. The excessive use of insecticides is also likely to limit the activity of natural enemies (which are few) in plantations. True control requires an integrated pest control programme using different methods. An aggregation pheromone is considered as a main tool in the integrated pest management system of this pest.
For pests like the Red Palm Weevil, the application of a number of pheromone traps can be used as a mean to reduce the number of insects distinctly. The aim is to remove enough of the adult population to prevent further infestations developing. This will not solve problems caused by larvae already present in the date palm trunks, but should prevent the development of the population which would cause damage in subsequent seasons. The lures are also used for the detection & monitoring of the adult insects to determine the population density throughout the year.
In order to successfully implement weevil management the cooperation of the farmer is essential. For any large scale pest management program to succeed, it is imperative that the farmer is fully involved. This can be achieved by making him aware of the seriousness of the problem and training him IPM techniques.
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