–gov’t approves $49M to combat pest outbreak

By Alva Solomon
COCONUT farmers across the coastland will soon benefit from government’s assistance in combating the infestation of the palm plant by the red palm mite pest.
The issue has been a major setback for farmers, particularly those in The Pomeroon, and Minister of State Joseph Harmon told the media at a post-Cabinet briefing at the Ministry of the Presidency yesterday that a sum of $49M has been approved by the administration to tackle the problem.
He said that the sum will be expended on the purchase of chemicals, equipment and safety gear for distribution to coconut farmers at a subsidised cost to assist in combating the outbreak.

TECHNICAL TEAMS
He said that Minister of Agriculture Noel Holder had informed Cabinet that farmers in the coconut industry, particularly in Regions 2 and 3, have been primarily affected by the red palm mite pest. He said, too, that technical teams have been deployed to those areas to assist farmers in confronting the problem.
The red palm mite pest, also known as the raoiella indica, was known to affect only plants in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and African countries. However, the pest was observed in the Caribbean islands in 2004.
The pest moves through wind currents, following which it settles on plant leaves and after a period of time, the leaves begin to lose their colour. The pest feeds by inserting themselves into the plant tissue and removing their cells, leaving the leaves with a yellow-brownish colour. The mites live for a period of two to three weeks and the plants begin to rot soon after being affected.
The pest also thrives on plantains, bananas and ornamental plants and some reports indicate that the pest has also infected those plants in parts of the country.
While the use of chemicals is a primary means of addressing the issue, it is considered impractical for coconuts, given the size of the palm plants. To this end, biological control has been utilised in parts of the world whereby beetles and predator mites were embedded within the plants to feed on the red palm mite.

COCONUTS
Coconuts have been one of the major non-traditional agricultural products exported and sold locally for decades. In May this year, the Guyana Chronicle reported that coconut producers and agricultural organisations as well as Agriculture Ministry officials met to discuss the future of the industry.

INCREASED PRODUCTION
At the time, Permanent Secretary within the Agriculture Ministry George Jervis had reported that local coconut production had risen from 5 million tonnes in 2005 to approximately 10 million tonnes in 2014, with exports going to all the major coconut-importing nations.
Other officials, including those from the Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute (CARDI), the National Agricultural Research and Extension Institute (NAREI) and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) among others were at the meeting which centred on the establishment of a roadmap to improve the sector’s productivity and long-term sustainability.