Big offensive against tiny foe

Working party set to do battle

Gaston Franco has brought together a group of MEPs from the Mediterranean region to raise awareness of the threat posed by the red palm weevil (charançon rouge in French), and to draw up a coordinated strategy to fight the relentless spread of the insect. He is pictured here (centre) in Strasburg with, from left to right, Dominique Vlasto (Marseille), Cristina Gutierrez-Cortines (Spain), Santiago Fisas-Ayxela (Spain), Maïté Sanchez-Schmid (Perpignan) and Giovanni La Via (Italy).

In the last 25 years this weevil has established itself all over the Mediterranean having been a strictly tropical pest confined to south Asia and Malaysia up until the end of the 1970s. It is notoriously difficult to detect, particularly in the tall palms, until the tree is well on the way to an early demise. The victim loses all its palms and the trunk rapidly starts to deteriorate.

The whole weevil life-cycle takes around four months. The females lay around 200 to 300 eggs at the base of young palm trees or in damaged areas on older trees. The larvae feed on the vascular tissues of the host for a period of between one to three months before hatching and moving on to start all over again.

Simply visually checking a grove or using non-systemic pesticides is not enough to control the spread of an infestation once it has started. The best form of attack is prevention through stricter controls on movement of plants likely to harbour the insect. Dead palms or palms beyond recovery have to be burned and careful cultivation is also crucial to avoid any risk of injury to new trees where the weevil can set up home. CL