Experience of Dactylopius coccus Costa management in Tigray; Buffer zone, scouting and monitoring saved Beles plantations

In Tigray (Ethiopia), the management strategies of D. coccus focused on tree clusters; cluster one: free area, cluster two: moderately infested areas, and cluster three: damaged areas. For cluster one, prevention from spread and devising control methods for eradication was done. The prevention methods involve identification of buffer zones, between the infested and uninfected areas, awareness creation to producers (farmers) and agriculture experts, scouting. Mechanical methods such as burning with woods or petroleum, cutting infected cladodes or the whole plant, and burying in sequential manner worked effectively. Cases of some districts are presented. Besides, limiting movement of livestock and human from infested to non-infested areas, limiting of fruit loading tracks to enter plantations, developing local regulations and so on employed. Infestations at mountainous and far from residents was difficult for two reasons; difficult to access and no local peoples to monitor and mobilize for prevention. Agricultural Research Institute, Bureau of Agriculture and Rural Development, Universities were organized under one task force. Tout e expansion was rapid, it was slowed and deterred since the intervention started (2015) and plantations in almost half of the Beles producing districts are saved. Scouting and monitoring worked well together with mechanical techniques. To manage D. coccus in medium- to long-term, the classical introduction of biological control agents (natural enemies) and utilization of resistant varieties are important.