BY ELLISON.T.VAHI
WORK against the coconut rhinoceros beetle (CRB) is picking up pace.
Led by the staffs of Biosecurity Solomon Islands (BSI), they have begun work on cutting down and destroying dead and rotting palms in and around Honiara, beginning in the land around Henderson.
It will soon move into town and from which then will be extended to infected rural areas over the next few months.
While on operational, BSI is requesting everyone to cooperate with the workers and help them access the rotting trees and logs, as they are the primary breeding site of the Coconut Rhinoceros Beetle (CRB) as easily as possible.
Since the only way effective to manage CRB populations is to reduce the number of beetles attacking palms and slow down the spread to new sites, it is essential that all potential breeding sites are destroyed.
All dead standing palms will be felled and all palms lying on the ground will be cut up and removed for destruction, and once owners want to keep logs for personal use this will be permitted but it will be the responsibility of the owner to check the logs for rots and larvae periodically.
It is equally the responsibility of all householders to check all other potential breeding sites (rotting vegetation, compost and chicken manure) and kill any larvae found.
All these sites should be turned over each month to expose any larvae within.
These larvae must be killed straight away.
Already large numbers of larvae are being found at the tops of the dead palms.
Frequently as many as 40 larvae of different life stages have been collected from the top one metre of palms.
This means a palm of 10 metres in length could lead to the emergence of more than 400 beetles.
