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 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. At present, the most damaging insect pest of sweet potato is the sweet potato weevil Cylas formicarius. In extreme cases this insect can ruin a crop for consumption by man or even pigs.