Nation-wide anti-red palm weevil drive launched

Abu Dhabi, Dec 17, 2012 (WAM) - The Ministry of Environment and Water rolled yesterday the second nation-wide campaign to fight red palm weevil through a raft of modern technology methods for detection and treatment of date palm ills. The first anti-palm weevil initiative was launched in 2009 in line with directives from H.H. Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs. Saif Al Shara, Ministry Assistant Undersecretary for Agricultural and Animal Affairs, said the State had made tireless efforts to protect the tree from epidemics and ills. The drive ''Our Date Palm'', he said, aims at developing integrated control management so as to enable the date palm sector and its related industries raise its contribution to the Gross Domestic Product, improve date quality and create a credible date data base. He added that a dedicated website was launched to provide a wealth of information about prevention and treatment of date palm pests. The initiative, he explained, features four phases : maintenance of pheromone traps, treatment of red palm weevil, Dubas bug control and finally introduction of modern technology and building human capacities. Part of the drive, he went on to say will focus on raising awareness of farmers about these ills and building their technical capacities. In the northern region alone, he added, experts are currently touring 2,366 farms, targeting 800,000 date palm trees. They will deploy 8000 pheromone traps and 1000 light traps. ''Nearly 1,697 infected trees were treated and 26,594 red weevils were collected by these traps,'' he noted. - Emirates News Agency, WAM