Coffee Berry Borer Management

A changing climate is creating risks to agricultural production as changing temperatures and rainfall alter the distribution of agricultural pests and diseases. Improving on-farm biosecurity practices is such an important climate-change adaptation measure.

The coffee berry borer (CBB) poses a significant threat to the PNG coffee industry. The pest arrived in PNG in 2017 and has the potential to wipe out a significant proportion of the coffee crop. A warmer climate provides the ideal environment for this pest to breed. Higher altitude areas once considered marginal for CBB populations to thrive are becoming highly suitable and areas such as Jiwaka province in PNG are seeing significant crop loss as the pest proliferates.

Australia’s MDF, partnered with Sustainable Management Services (SMS) to support awareness training and educating smallholders on best practices to control CBB. SMS distributed traps and CBB control agents and conducted training and awareness-raising for coffee farmers, covering 960 hectares. These practices will not only help to control the population of CBB but also build resilience to other pest and disease outbreaks exacerbated by climate change, such as coffee leaf rust. MDF transitioned this important work to the Australia-PNG Economic Partnership in 2023.