The release of a parasitoid wasp from Africa to assist in the fight against the invasive coffee berry borer moved one step closer to taking place Thurdsday.
The University of Hawaii College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources (CTAHR) in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service will release Phymastichus coffea, a parasitoid wasp from Kenya, for biological control of coffee berry borer, Hypothenemus hampei.
To date, P. coffea has been released in 12 countries as a classical biological control agent.
A final EA, allowing the effort to move forward, was published Thursday with a finding that the proposed action would have no significant impact.
The coffee berry borer (CBB) is the most destructive insect pest of coffee globally, according to a draft environmental assessment published Dec. 8. Though endemic to Central Africa, CBB is now found in almost every coffee-producing country in the world.
In 2010, it first invaded Hawaii Island where high quality coffee is the second largest cash crop, valued at more than $55 million during the 2020-21 season. Since, the destructive beetle has invaded coffee on the islands of Oahu, Maui and Kauai resulting in crop loss estimated at $7.7 million.
“CBB has had the effect of making coffee farming more intensive and less profitable: damage causes significant losses in yield and alters the flavor profile of salvageable coffee beans. If left unmanaged, CBB can damage up to 90% of the crop,” the final EA reads.
The small, parasitic wasp would assist in controlling CBB as the wasp larvae feed on adult CBB causing beetle death before the pest can penetrate the coffee berry and lay eggs.
The state began studying the non-stinging wasp under a 2018 permit. Specimens from Columbia were shipped to a certified quarantine insect containment facility managed by the USDA Forest Service at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park and incubated in controlled climate chambers where they were were studied.
If Phymastichus coffea is approved for release by the state Department of Agriculture, which is the next step, Colombia will supply wasps for the initial releases. Current plans call for the wasp to first be released in South Kona, the main coffee growing region in Hawaii that is also close to the USDA ARS laboratory and University of Hawaii experiment station that will facilitate monitoring.
Current plans call for the first release of the wasp at Greenwell Farms in Kealakekua. Other sites may also be selected depending on the number of parasitoids available with long-term plans calling for the release the of the wasp on all islands where CBB occurs.