Over 10,000 Palm Weevil Infected Palm Trees Until Last July in Al Dhahirah Governorate

Ibri: The red palm weevil is one of the most dangerous pests in terms of the damage it causes to the date palm, although the date palm is vulnerable to many other pests such as the palm dubas bug, black blight and mold types, but the palm weevil is the most dangerous in terms of Its effect on the palm tree, the speed of its spread and the difficulty of controlling it, in addition to the speed of its phases in its life cycle, which makes it quick to reproduce as well.

Engineer Khalid bin Khamis Al Shamakhi, Director of the Agricultural Development Department at the General Directorate of Agricultural Wealth and Water Resources in Al Dhahirah Governorate, explained that the palm weevil is an invasive insect, and its original home is Southeast Asia, noting that the first record of the insect’s appearance in the Gulf Cooperation Council region was In 1983, by importing ornamental palm offshoots from Southeast Asian countries, which led to the entry of the insect to the peninsula countries and its settlement of date palms to be its host and breeding among date palms since that time to reach the states of the Sultanate of Oman in the mid-nineties of the last century, where the Ministry of Wealth adopted Since then, the integrated management system has been used to control the red palm weevil and to limit its spread.

Al-Shamakhi pointed out that the red palm weevil not only invades date palms, but also most types of palms such as oil palms, ornamental palms, Washington palms and canary palms, in addition to the possibility of the coconut palm being infested with the palm weevil blight, but no infection with the insect was recorded with regard to coconut palms. The injuries reported by the Ministry of Agricultural Wealth, Fisheries and Water Resources are concentrated in the northern governorates of the Sultanate of Oman.

In Al-Dhahirah Governorate, Al-Shamakhi explained that the first appearance of the date palm weevil in the governorate was in the villages of the Wilayat of Yanqul in 1998, when the presence of the pest was eliminated, but in 2004 the infestation appeared again in a number of villages in the Wilayat of Dhank to spread to the villages of other states in the governorate As a result of the transfer of shoots between different regions, with some farmers negligent about the danger of this practice and its great role in spreading the pest among different regions, despite the presence of awareness campaigns adopted by the Ministry.

Eng. Khaled Al-Shamakhi indicated that the ministry spares no effort in combating this agricultural pest, but that the complete eradication of this insect requires a joint effort between the government side and the citizens and farmers for the success of eradicating the pest, as the negligence in transferring shoots from one region to another can constitute serious damage to healthy areas. Also, the lack of attention to the periodic examination of the palms can lead to the breeding of the insect and the exacerbation of its presence in the trunk of the palm, which makes it a source for the reproduction of the insect and its later impact on the neighboring palms on the farm and the surrounding farms.

Shammakhi added that the periodic inspections carried out by the Directorate in the governorate work intensively through the distributed field teams and the cooperating civil teams in the various villages and states of the governorate in order to examine and detect the affected areas at an early date, which facilitates the process of eliminating breeding places and to protect the rest of the healthy palms.

Shammakhi confirmed that the Directorate of Agriculture and Water Resources in Al Dhahirah Governorate has managed, since the beginning of this year until the end of last July, to monitor 12,249 palm weevil infected palms, as 1912 severely infested and difficult-to-treat palm trees were removed, while 1,337 palm trees were treated distributed in 100 villages in various wilayats. Ibri, Naqul Wadnak, explaining that removing the severely infested palm that cannot be treated due to the exacerbation of its injury, the hollowness of its trunk and its erosion due to the insect requires a lot of effort, as the affected palm is still green and its trunks are wet and difficult to burn. The exit of insects and larvae remaining inside.

He pointed out that the problem that lies in the palm weevil is that this insect spends most of its life cycle and its stages inside the palm trunk, which prevents it from being detected or noticed at times, although the shape of the palm from the outside suggests that it is healthy, uninfected and loaded with fruits, stressing the role The supervisory authority of the farmer is in the continuous monitoring of the palms, not only in the farm environment, but also the injury can be in the palms that are in the house, as there are a number of symptoms that indicate the injury of the palm, such as the exit of fluids from the palm as a result of the presence of sawdust on the palm, the ease of removing and falling fronds and the death of the offshoots From around the palm, which is sometimes an indicator to identify the injury.

With regard to the preventive aspect to limit the spread of the palm weevil, Al-Shamakhi explained that the prevention program includes several axes such as legislative control through the enactment of laws and legislations to limit the spread of the pest and to ensure the safety of citizens’ farms by prohibiting the transfer of shoots between different regions to prevent the insect from moving to healthy areas. In addition to obligating the external quarantine by preventing the import of offshoots from infected countries into the Sultanate of Oman, in addition to agricultural control that relies on preventive spraying of palms and the pruning and removal of offshoots that grow around the palm, which contributes to facilitating the discovery of infection in the event of its occurrence.

He added that pheromone traps also contribute to the prevention of infestation of healthy palms and also limiting the proliferation of palm weevil numbers, as these traps attract insects by spreading pheromone odors, which are usually secreted by the bodies of these insects and are considered to have a certain chemical that seeks to attract and respond to members of the same species. of insects, which attracts the insect into the trap, which is usually of a certain depth that prevents the insect from getting out of the trap, as 1000 pheromone traps have been deployed to catch the palm weevil in the villages of Al Dhahirah Governorate , which resulted in catching more than 34,000 insects during The first seven months of this year, which prevented the aggravation of their reproduction and spread, as the female palm weevil lays between 150 and 300 eggs during the spawning period, which makes it a source of danger to date palm crops.

Al-Shamakhi pointed out that the infected palms are treated by injection therapy, where the place where the juice comes out as a result of the injury is punctured and the pesticide is injected inside the trunk of the palm, which in turn spreads inside the palm and thus eliminates the stages of the insect inside the trunk, bearing in mind that this type The treatment should be after removing the palm fruits in anticipation of the presence of pesticide residues in the fruits.

It is noteworthy that periodic campaigns in the various villages of the governorate continue throughout the year within the plans and efforts of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Water Resources to eradicate the palm weevil and limit its spread in the various governorates of the Sultanate of Oman, in addition to providing equipment, medicines and special traps to combat this pest.