Coffee borer affects only a few regions | Country’s producers have become experienced in controlling the insect
BOGOTA, Colombia (Reuters) — An insect that eats only coffee beans has multiplied rapidly in a small number of Colombian farming regions this year because of warmer weather.
However, the infestation is limited and there is no major threat to the crop, a coffee official said.
Carlos Uribe, the top agronomist at the farmer-funded National Coffee Federation, said specific coffee areas had reported infestation rates as high as eight percent compared to a nationwide level of two percent, but few areas were hit overall.
“It’s only a minimal amount of the country,” he said.
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“The problem is that its food is the part that’s worth money.
The insect was first detected in Colombia in 1988 and had infected one-quarter of the crop by the early 1990s.
The coffee borer, a small beetle-like insect, lays eggs in the coffee cherry, which mature into larvae that devour the bean growing inside.
Infestations can spread rapidly and slash production, but farmers can control it.
The pest has appeared recently in small areas of Caldas, Quindio, Antioquia and Valle provinces.
The arabica coffee market, already roiled by a drought-hit Brazilian crop this year, has seen huge volatility in the last year.
ICE arabica coffee futures are trading at the highest for the spot contract since January 2012.
However, this year’s warmer weather has given the coffee borer an advantage, shortening its reproductive cycle to around 25 days instead of 30 and boosting its food supply because coffee beans usually decompose more slowly in dryness and warmth.
The chance of drier-than-usual weather in the next few months has prompted the federation’s agronomists to emphasize control of the pest by taking care not to leave ripe fruit on the branches or on the ground, where borers lay in wait for the next crop.
“If it doesn’t rain, the coffee fruit (won’t rot) and will continue to feed the insects, which could enable them to go on to damage the next crop,” Uribe said.
“That’s why it’s important to clear ripe cherries away.”
The critical period for sweeping up will be from the late stages of the current harvest around November until around February, when coffee pickers start to abandon their fields.
Coffee borers also exist in the world’s top coffee grower, Brazil, and a surge this year amid drought and heat prompted its government to fast track the licensing of a new pesticide to control it.
