Assessment of awareness and incidence of coffee berry borer (Hypothenemus hampei Ferrari) UNDER plantation and garden coffee management system in yeki and mengeshu woredas, south western Ethiopia

Abstract

Coffee berry borer is one of the important insect pests known to cause considerable yield loss in Ethiopia. Therefore, the present study was designed to assess the level of infestation of coffee berries at different developmental stages under garden and plantation management systems. A 3*2*4 factorial experiment was carried out at three locations (Baya, Shone and Anderacha kebele in southwestern Ethiopia), under two management systems(Garden and Plantation) and four coffee berry development stages (Red ripe, Dried over ripe, Fallen and Dried left over cherries) with three replications. A purposive sampling technique was followed to select the woredas and Kebeles while fruit assessment was done on 300 randomly selected sample fruits from each sampling plot. Moreover, perception, knowledge and management practices of 200 randomly selected farmers, 30 DAs and 24 experts of Teppi coffee plantation enterprise were assessed. The results revealed that there was a significant interaction (p<0.0001) between location and berry development stage and berry development stage with management systems. Significantly the highest proportion of damaged berries (37.5%), number of holes per bean (10.88), weight loss of berries (8.11%), number of larvae (4.11), and number of adults (7.55) were observed on dried leftover cherries at Baya (1110m.a.s.l) while the highest percentage of discolored beans (64.91%) was obtained from fallen berries at Anderacha (1720m.a.s.l) and the highest mean damage (24.51%) and weight loss (4.86%) was recorded for dried leftover cherries under plantation coffee management system. On contrary, the lowest mean 0.50, 0.83, 0.17, 0.00, and 0.63 % of damaged berries, number of holes per bean, weight loss, number of larvae on red ripe cherry and number of adults per cherry were recorded at Shone on fallen berries, respectively, but no damage of CBB was observed on red ripe cherries at Anderacha. Both mean number of eggs (2.44) and pupas (0.50) were higher at Baya on dried leftover cherries, but lowest mean number of eggs (0.76) and pupa (0.08) were recorded at Anderacha on red ripe cherries. Results of the current study showed highest coffee berry borer damage and its effect on dried leftover cherries at Baya and less on red ripe cherries at Anderacha. Despite this fact, 87% of coffee farmers, 53.30% of DAs and 29.20% experts of the enterprise had no prior knowledge about the typical symptom of CBB damage and only 13.3% of DAs and 25% of the experts of enterprise applied/assisted CBB control measures. Therefore, early and effective harvesting of red ripe cherries, growing at higher elevation (above 1400m.a.s.l), removal of dried leftover cherries and creating awareness/training among stakeholders pertaining to CBB and its controls are important components to manage the damage of coffee berry borer