MONITORING CULTURAL PRACTICES FOR COFFEE BERRY BORER HYPOTHENEMUS HAMPEI (COLEOPTERA: CURCULIONIDAE: SCOLYTINAE) MANAGEMENT IN A SMALL COFFEE FARM IN COLOMBIA

In a commercial coffee farm planted with 4,700 trees of coffee cultivar, 'Colombia', a cultural program for CBB control focusing on frequent and efficient harvesting was evaluated over 2 years. An average of 6.2 mature berries per tree were left after each harvesting while CBB infestations in the field averaged 2.3% of berries and CBB damage in dried (processed) green coffee beans averaged 1.5%. In contrast average CBB damage in fields in the central region of Colombia was 4.6% (n = 12). Our findings show that trained workers can maintain high harvesting efficiency, which is important to prevent outbreaks of CBB and allow the production of exportable quality coffee. Copyright © 2011 BioOne All rights reserved.