BY LORETTA BRIGIDIA MANELE
SPREAD of the coconut rhinoceros beetle to the rural areas will be a challenge for people who are mostly dependent on the country’s most important crop.
This is according to the Government and Palm Industries CRB Taskforce which expresses that people will have to make hard decisions whether it will be deciding whether to make copra or consume it with low probability that the crop will be enough for both.
Moreover, the taskforce expressed is if they should feed their family with free healthy food or to make copra to cater for school fees, food and other necessities.
In addition, the report stated that health will also be affected given that if families choose to make copra then this would mean that they would have to buy more food from the shops most likely cheap, less healthy but available food which in turn will increase the consumption of soft drinks followed by high diabetes cases.
Furthermore, the taskforce advises that everyone can help control the spread of the rhinoceros beetle Guam biotype (CRB-G) by cleaning up and destroying breeding sites as well as by cutting down dead palms and getting rid of palms that have recovered.
