CABI scientist Dr Arne Witt has led an international team of researchers who have confirmed for the first time the presence of the date pest red palm weevil on Socotra Island, Yemen, putting the livelihoods of residents at risk.
CABI scientist Dr Arne Witt has led an international team of researchers who have confirmed for the first time the presence of the date pest red palm weevil on Socotra Island, Yemen, putting the livelihoods of residents at risk.
The red palm weevil Rhynchophorus ferrugineus (Olivier) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) has already proved its ability to devastate date crops around the world where in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, for example, annual losses associated with the removal of severely infested palms at 1 and 5% infestation levels have been estimated to range from $5.18 to $25.92 million.
Dr Witt and scientists from Mendel University in the Czech Republic, Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum in Germany and the Environmental Protection Agency in Socotra, fear that the red palm weevil – now well established on the island (a UNESCO World Heritage site) – is ‘likely to have a significant negative impact on livelihoods as dates are the most important locally-produced food after milk and meat.’
Read more at Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International
Image: The red palm weevil (Rhynchophoris ferrugineus) – credit: Alan Roberts
