BAHRAINI authorities are attempting to eradicate a pest that threatens to wipe out the country’s palm trees.

The pilot project aims to exterminate the red palm weevil, which is a small beetle that burrows into palm trees, lays its eggs and decimates them by hollowing out the trunk.

It is thought to have been brought into the Middle East from Pakistan, and was first reported in Bahrain in 1995.

However, officials now fear the problem has escalated and could have a devastating effect on the agriculture sector as around 25 per cent of trees have been affected.

“The biggest problem we face in Bahrain with palm trees is the red palm weevil,” said Municipalities and Agriculture Affairs minister’s consultant Shaikh Mohammed bin Abdulwahab Al Khalifa.

“It’s the most dangerous problem. We could lose our palms if we’re not careful and take care of it.

“Approximately 25pc of palm trees in Bahrain are affected by the red palm weevil, with the most seriously affected areas being the north and west of Bahrain.”

Symptoms

Shaikh Mohammed said one of the main problems they faced was the difficulty of pinpointing the infestation beforehand.

The swarm of insects can result in the tree wilting, which will eventually collapse.

“The major symptoms are not visible until long after the tree has become infested.

“For this reason, they are hard to get rid of.

“We are currently working on a pilot project in order to try and eradicate the weevil.”

Shaikh Mohammed said they will launch the project within weeks. “We’re going to start after Eid with 7,500 palm trees in an isolated area,” he explained.

“We will insert organic neem oil into the tree trunk. Within four to 10 days, the oil will be transferred naturally throughout the whole tree, which provides it with protection from the inside.

“For the outside, we use a repellent spray.

“The red palm weevil doesn’t affect the dates directly, but because the weevil feeds on the tree, it means that eventually the tree will produce fewer dates and they will be smaller.

“If a tree is bearing fruit, we have to change the repellent to something that is safe to consume.”

He said the process will protect trees from infestation, but to completely eradicate the insects they will have to trap them.

“We will also create a trap and place it close to the palm tree,” he said. “On the trap we’ll place the scent that initially attracts the weevil to the palm tree, which is the palm oil.

“The idea is that they will lay their eggs in the trap instead, which we can remove and kill.

“It will probably take us between two to four weeks to finish applying the repellent and oil.

“Then we’ll have to go back every week and check to ensure the weevil has not taken root.

“Within a month we’ll know if it’s working, but we will keep monitoring the palms for a year.

“We have studied this issue thoroughly and I believe that we have a 90pc chance of making this work if we carry it out properly.”

Saudi Arabia, one of the world’s largest date exporters, is also struggling to deal with the red palm weevil infestation.
laala@gdn.com.bh