A UF professor is helping to prevent tiny insects from harming coffee plants in Papua New Guinea.
Jiri Hulcr, a UF forest resources and conservation professor, started a partnership in 2014 with the Coffee Industry Corporation branch of Papua New Guinea’s government to help identify the beetle, called the coffee berry borer. The country discovered its first infestation the first week of March, Hulcr said.
“Since Papua New Guinea is so isolated, it’s the only place in the world, along with China, that is not infested with this beetle, and that is why this is significant,” the 38-year-old said.
Some of the coffee Starbucks sells is from Papua New Guinea, he said.
Hulcr said he’s training farmers, growers and gardeners in the country to identify the insect, manage outbreaks and recognize symptoms. The bugs infest coffee plants, making them inedible and unable to be exported.
He said he sent students to the country to develop an insect identification lab to find the specific beetles.
“We are one of the few labs in the world that can reliably tell the difference, because we’ve studied these insects before,” Hulcr said.
People in the country rely on the money from selling coffee as their income, he said.
But the bugs are threatening to eliminate the industry.
Cristina Villena, a 20-year-old UF business sophomore, said she hopes the beetles are eradicated.
“I have a cup of Starbucks coffee almost every day, so for all I know this could result in my daily coffee supply being completely depleted,” Villena said. “That would be disastrous for both me and everyone I interact with.”
