SPC, with support from AgResearch New Zealand, has dispatched to Samoa’s Ministry of Agriculture 1000 sachets of male aggregate pheromones, called Oryctalure, to trap these beetles (Oryctes rhinoceros) which can cause severe damage when they bore into the crowns of coconut palms to feed on sap.
Coconut palms cover around 30 percent of Samoa’s land mass and contribute SAT$8 million annually to the Pacific Island nation’s economy.
In 2007 the total value of exports of coconut products from Fiji, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Samoa and Kiribati was valued at €14.4 million.
