KOROR, Palau (Palau Horizon/Marianas Variety, Jan. 2) - Palau has 55 species of agricultural pests, according to the Draft National Report on Invasive Alien Species in the Republic of Palau.
Local fruits and vegetables are host to agricultural pests: banana, mango, betel nut, taro, beans, breadfruit, carambola, cassava, cabbage, coconut, corn, cucurbits, eggplant, guava, mountain apple, okra, orange, sugarcane, sweet potato and tropical almond.
The lists of pests include the oriental fruit fly, the breadfruit fly, the spiraling white fly, the Chinese rose beetle, the coconut scale and the mango fruit fly.
The oriental and breadfruit fly target guava, mango, orange and breadfruit.
Currently, the Bureau of Agriculture is testing the country’s betel nuts if they also host these fruit flies.
The spiraling white fly prefers bananas, cassava and guava while the Chinese rose beetle likes bananas, taro, beans, eggplants, okras and sugarcane.
Taro...