By Howard Dicus
HONOULU and KONA (HawaiiNewsNow) – Hawaii coffee growers are plotting a war on the coffee cherry borer, a pest that poses a serious threat to Hawaiian coffees.
The University of Hawaii’s College of Tropical Agriculture and the state Department of Agriculture flew to Kona for meetings Monday in the heart of the Kona coffee district.
Following a morning meeting with the largest coffee growers and processors who handle almost nine tenths of coffee in the district, a larger meeting was planned in the afternoon at the Kona Historical Society next to Greenwell Farms.
Coffee trees are fruit trees and the fruit is called the cherry. The pit is the coffee bean. Hypothenemus hampei, to use the borer’s Latin name, bores into the coffee cherry and lays eggs. Then the larvae feed on the coffee bean itself.
“This is terrible news for our important coffee industry,” said Sandra Lee Kunimoto, chairman of the state agriculture board.
Kunimoto went public with the problem Wednesday, the same day the identity of the pest was confirmed from samples sent from Hawaii and examined by the USDA lab in Riverdale, MD.
Native to Africa, the coffee cherry borer has been widespread for years in Central America and South America. Kunimoto said it now appears the borer may have been in Kona for a couple years without previously being identified.
