Mealybugs attacking local papaya crops

An insect indigenous to Mexico called the papaya mealybug has been found feasting on local papayas in a farm in As Teo and, although the case is still considered isolated, it may eventually affect the rest of the Commonwealth’s papaya industry if not eradicated soon, according to agriculture consultant Roland Quitugua.

Quitugua joined officials of the Northern Marianas College-Cooperative Research Extension and Education Services in an ocular inspection of island’s papaya farms Monday as part of three-day workshop on papaya farming, where he served as guest speaker.

Quitugua said they found out that the pests, whose scientific name is Paracoccus marginatus, were eating through the crop in the As Teo farm.

He said the papaya mealybug could pose a threat to the local papaya industry and could mirror what happened to Guam’s own papaya industry. He said that NMC-CREES will soon issue a pest alert.

Quitugua provided leaflets describing the pests to more than 30 farmers during the first day of the papaya workshop on Wednesday. The leaflet said that female adult mealybugs are wingless and about 3mm long with a yellowish body and body fluid.

“They are covered with a white wax with lateral and caudal wax filaments. Adult males are smaller, have wings and live for only a few days. Eggs are also yellowish and laid in a cottony egg sac,” he said.

NMC-CREES agriculture consultant Isidoro Cabrera said there are over 5,000 papaya trees on Saipan alone, but they have not figured out the number of trees infested by the bugs just yet.

He said the office would look into solving the possible outbreak of the pest.

According to reports, the papaya mealybug originated in Mexico. At some point, it jumped into the islands of the Caribbean and found its way to the U.S. mainland and to Guam by allegedly “hitchhiking” on some imported fruits.

Quitugua said that if the pests are not controlled immediately it could result in a horrid spread of infestation that could wipe out the entire papaya tree population of the Commonwealth.

Three-day workshop

More than 60 local landowners and farmers attended the first day of the workshop at the Hyatt Regency Saipan Siu Lan Private Room. It will end today.

Due to insistent demand from local farmers, NMC-CREES organized the workshop to provide farmers or any interested individuals a thorough knowledge of how to increase production and profit in papaya farming.

Farmer Nick Sablan said the workshop is good for farmers like him, while Emma Cabrera said the workshop would be very helpful in maintaining the health of her 200-some papaya trees and 200 seedlings at her Kagman farm plot.

Albina Lizama said she attended the free workshop to educate herself on how to properly grow her 100-plus papaya trees and 500 seedlings in Talafofo.

“I am looking forward to the economic benefits of growing papayas in the CNMI,” she said, adding that if the government could help in exporting the papayas to neighboring islands then that would be something the local farmers would want to do in the future.