The sweet potato weevil

Abstract

Sweet potato (kaukau) is the most common and the most important food crop grown in Papua New Guinea. Traditionally sweet potato has been planted in the village gardens as a subsistence crop. However sweet potato is now being grown more intensively, as a cash crop, to supply the food requirements of the growing urban (town and city dwelling) population. This more intensive cultivation may lead to different  insect pest problems  in this crop.