Coffee Berry Borer spreads to Oahu
Certain coffee growers in the U.S state of Hawaii are familiar with the coffee berry borer after struggling with the invasive pest for the past four years. But despite introducing a new action plan earlier on in the year, the insect has now spread and has begun to settle in previously borer-free areas.
Last Wednesday, the state Department of Agriculture (DoA) confirmed that the borer had been discovered on farms in Waialua, Oahu.
…continue reading Coffee Berry Borer spreads to Oahu
Colombia facing a borer outbreak
“Every day it’s getting worse,” said Pedro Echeverria.
Echeverria is coffee farmer based in the Colombian province of Antioquia and, like so many of his colleagues; he is bracing himself for an influx of insects that could potentially decimate his entire harvest.
A prolonged dry spell combined with consistently high temperatures is threatening to create the perfect environment for the coffee berry borer to prosper.
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Drought and fire impact Jamaican coffee industry
The immediate future for Jamaica’s coffee industry does not look promising. A sustained period of drought, coupled with a bush fire that tore through 50 acres of coffee plantations recently, has seen Senator Norman Grant, the President of Jamaica’s Agricultural Society, state that production will be low and export targets are likely to be missed.
The news was delivered on the eve of Denbigh’s annual agricultural show, which began earlier this week.
…continue reading Drought and fire impact Jamaican coffee industry
Hawaii plans a fight back against the borer
It has been a few months since we turned our attention to the island state of Hawaii, the only part of America which grows coffee.
At the turn of the year we reported that farmers on the island were facing a period of uncertainty as the investment firm Lehman Brothers acquired large swathes of land on Ka’u, and were planning to sell it – including parts on which coffee was grown – off.
…continue reading Hawaii plans a fight back against the borer
Borer beetles causing problems for Taiwan
Taiwanese reports suggest that an insect invasion is threatening to cause havoc on the local coffee growing industry once again as nearly ninety-percent of all plantations in the Gukeng Township of Yukin County have been affected by an influx of the coffee berry borer beetle (Hypothenemus hampei).
The area is well known for its coffee production with sixty hectares already under cultivation.
Destroying between twenty and fifty percent of the crop, the borer beetle has the potential to cause considerable damage. Now, the farmers and industry fear the worst and have begun to take preventative steps to secure crops.