Fighting the deadly Rhino beetle
Quoting the Solomon Star newspaper – 4 March 2018
“Combating the deadly coconut rhinoceros beetle will be the focus of a major workshop to be held in Honiara this week.
Biosecurity Solomon Islands and the Coconut RhiBy os Beetle (CRB) taskforce are organising the one-day gathering in Honiara on Thursday.
“The coconut industry is worth $150 million to the Solomon Islands economy,” says Bob Macfarlane, coordinator of the CRB taskforce.
“This represents a significant percentage of our foreign exchange earnings, most of which gets direct to the village-level,” he added.
“Coconuts also play a crucial role in village nutrition being consumed at a rate of one nut per person per day (equating to 600,000 nuts per day) and of course the palm also has thousands of other uses.
“Biosecurity Solomon Islands has developed an operational plan to respond to the threat represented by the rhinoceros beetle.
“This week’s meeting is part of that plan.”
Copyright: Solomon Star. (All Rights Reserved)
