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Cooperation and research needs for the cocoa pod borer, the main cocoa pest in Southeast Asia : Mission to Indonesia from 19 June to 3 July 2005

Cilas C.. 2006. Montpellier : CIRAD-CP, 32 p.. numero_rapport: CP_SIC 2028.

The main purpose of this mission was to assess research requirements to help solve the serious problem of the Cocoa Pod Borer (CPB), which destroys a large share of the cocoa harvests in Southeast Asian producing countries, more especially in Indonesia and Malaysia. The damage is caused by the insect Conopomorpha cramerella Snellen, a moth whose larvae bore into cocoa pods to feed. This pest, whose primary host is rambutan (Nephelium lappaceum), adapted to the cocoa tree in the 20th century (Bradley, 1986). The main producing region in Indonesia, the island of Sulawesi, has been invaded by the pest since 1999. Several control methods have been considered and tested, but none currently provides effective control of the pest in plantations. Further knowledge is needed, notably of the insect's biology and ecology. It will only be then that a sustainable management system can be envisaged, combining several control methods depending on agro-ecological constraints in the affected zones. Several lines of research are proposed, be it in the technical field, or for a socio-economic approach, notably as part of PhD thesis or Masters work, but the assignment of an entomologist seems unavoidable for coordinating such research, in which the Masterfoods company is ready to collaborate.

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Rapport de mission

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