19 Insect Pests of Coffee and their Management in Nature-friendly Production Systems Juan F. Barrera* El Colegio de la Frontera Sur (ECOSUR), Tapachula, Mexico Introduction used in mixtures or to make soluble instant coffee. Today, coffee is one of the world’s It is speculated that at least 700 years ago, most important agricultural products. For coffee (Coffea arabica L.) came out of the Abys- many developing countries, coffee has been sinian Mountains (present-day Ethiopia) in the second most important product, only merchant and slave-trader caravans heading after oil, because of the value in foreign cur- for the Arabian Peninsula. There, in Yemen, rency it generates. Coffee is the main source the first coffee plantations flourished. How- of income for more than 125 million people ever, it was not until the end of the 17th and worldwide, many of whom belong to very beginning of the 18th century that the Dutch low-income farming families of indigenous and French began coffee cultivation in their ethnic groups (Osorio, 2002). These families colonies abroad, putting an end to the Ara- of small farmers produce 75% of the world’s bians’ monopoly, and C. arabica commenced coffee. C. arabica is cultivated at middle the adventure of colonizing the world. Much and high altitudes in most of the producer later, in the 19th century, another coffee countries, particularly in Latin America, species, robusta (Coffea canephora Pierre ex while C. canephora is mostly cultivated at A. Froehner), was discovered on the plains of low altitudes in Africa and Asia where the western Africa (Coste, 1964; Haarer, 1964; climate and coffee rust (Hemileia vastatrix Smith, 1985; Wrigley, 1988). Berkeley & Broome) make it difficult to cul- Of more than 100 species of the genus tivate C. arabica. From an environmental Coffea, all of which originated in Africa and standpoint, coffee cultivated under shade is Madagascar, C. arabica and C. canephora considered very important for maintaining are the most important and are cultivated biodiversity (de Graaff, 1986; Perfecto et al., commercially. From roasted ground C. arab­ 1996; Maestri et al., 2001; Gaitán et al., ica beans, an aromatic, mild, digestive drink 2015). is obtained. Because the drink made from According to the statistics of the Inter- C. canephora is stronger, more bitter, less national Coffee Organization (ICO), the aromatic and has twice as much caffeine, it is world production of coffee in 2015 was * [email protected] © CAB International 2017. Handbook of Pest Management in Organic Farming (eds V. Vacante and S. Kreiter) 477 0003201475.INDD 477 8/28/2017 1:43:25 PM 478 J.F. Barrera 143.3 million 60-kg sacks, of which 58% fruiting in regions farther from the equator, were C. arabica and 42% was C. canephora such as India, Ethiopia, Hawaii, Central (ICO, 2016a). Of this production, 43% was America, south and central Brazil and produced in South America, 33% in Asia Zimbabwe. Regions closer to the equator, and Oceania, 12% in Mexico and Central such as Kenya and Colombia, have up to America, and 12% in Africa. The top ten two cycles per year, typically having a producer countries are (thousands of 60-kg faster rate of initial flowering and a slower sacks) Brazil (43,235), Vietnam (27,500), shoot growth rate in the dry and/or cold Colombia (13,500), Indonesia (12,317), Ethi- months of ‘winter’, while flowering and fast opia (6700), India (5833), Honduras (5750), shoot growth is ‘triggered’ by ‘spring’ rains Uganda (4755), Guatemala (3400) and Peru (Cannell, 1985). (3300). Coffee cultivation under diversified Unpredictable price fluctuation is one shade is the most traditional cropping sys- of the major problems of the coffee industry. tem and is the basis of nature-friendly pro- Low prices drastically affect the incomes of duction systems. In these agroforestry the growers with repercussions on the wel- production systems, typically managed by fare of their households and management of small growers, tall C. arabica varieties the plantations. Since the breakdown of the such as ‘Typica’ and ‘Bourbon’, predomin- International Coffee Agreement in 1989, ate and are highly regarded in the market. serious international price crises have Besides coffee, growers obtain many bene- forced producers to abandon their plant- fits from the shade trees: lumber, firewood ations and out-migrate (Osorio, 2004; Good- and fruit (Herzog, 1994; Beer et al., 1998). man, 2008). Price drops can be even more The plantation itself benefits from leaf lit- devastating in a context of adverse weather ter from the shade trees. First, the litter and high incidences of pests and diseases protects the soil from erosion and improves (Eakin et al., 2013, 2014). Growers have crop resilience during drought; it also adopted and adapted strategies to palliate limits proliferation of weeds (Guharay the adverse effects of price crises. Among et al., 2001). Later, the litter is incorpor- these strategies are selling certified coffee in ated into the soil as organic matter through special markets that pay premiums and bet- processes of decomposition mediated by a ter prices, such as Fair Trade, organic coffee myriad of macro and microorganisms, and other forms of nature-friendly and so- among which an abundant, diverse com- cially responsible production (Giovannucci munity of predators prospers and partici- and Koekoek, 2003; Martínez-Torres, 2006; pates in regulating populations. Litter’s Bacon et al., 2008; Blackman and Naranjo, nutrient contribution to the crop reduces 2012). In the 2007 International Coffee dependence on chemical fertilizers, and Agreement, the ICO encourages these pro- natural control exerted by predator fauna duction initiatives because they assure the that inhabits the soil can diminish the crop’s sustainability (ICO, 2016b). need for chemical control of pests and Coffee (Coffea spp.) is a perennial bush diseases. Aboveground, the shade also of the family Rubiaceae cultivated in the benefits the plantation by creating a micro- tropical and subtropical regions of the world, climate that attenuates the impact of ex- in a belt between approximately 25º N and treme temperatures and precipitations and 25º S of the equator (Coste, 1964). Optimum by providing a favourable habitat for the conditions for the crop depend on the coffee flora and fauna of surrounding ecosystems. species. C. arabica requires temperatures of Shade also has a positive effect on the 18–22°C and 1400–2000 mm of annual pre- quality of brewed coffee, especially in sub- cipitation. For C. canephora, optimal con- optimal low-altitude regions (Muschler, ditions are 22–28°C and 2000–2200 mm 2001). Yield in these agroforestry systems precipitation (Gaitán et al., 2015). Under is lower, but the low yield is compensated these conditions, the coffee plants are ever- by increased longevity of the coffee plants green, with one annual cycle of growth and (Beer et al., 1998). 0003201475.INDD 478 8/28/2017 1:43:25 PM Nature-friendly Management of Insect Pests of Coffee 479 As Wrigley (1988) states, it is not sur- prising that the evergreen nature of the cof- Coffee Pests fee plant, its broad geographic distribution and the favourable environmental condi- Stem borers and branch borers tions for development and reproduction of arthropods, has propitiated an abundant Coffee stem and branch borers form a group community of phytophagous species – up made up mostly of insects of the order Cole- to 3000 worldwide, according to Waller optera, among which are outstanding mem- et al. (2007) – despite the caffeine in leaves, bers of the Bostrichidae (Bostrichinae), Cer- flowers and seeds. Caffeine is an alkaloid ambycidae (Cerambycinae, Lamiidae and that inhibits insect feeding and acts as an Prioninae) and Curculionidae (Scolytinae) insecticide (Nathanson, 1984; Guerrei- families. Other orders that include insects ro-Filho and Mazzafera, 2003; Green et al., that attack stems and branches are Orthop- 2015). What is surprising, in a superficial tera (Gryllidae) and Lepidoptera (Cossidae). analysis, is that only a few dozens of these However, the families Cerambycidae and organisms are economically important, and Curculionidae include the most economic- of these, most are geographically very local- ally important species. ized problems and few are cosmopolitan The coffee tree attracts many species of pests (Oduor and Simons, 2003; Barrera, Cerambycidae, especially in Africa; how- 2008). A more detailed analysis can explain ever, most of them are not specific to coffee that the same conditions that have favoured (Vayssière, 1964). Among the species of Cer- phytophagous pests have also been benefi- ambycidae, Xylotrechus quadripes (Chevrolat) cial for their natural enemies. This is espe- (Cerambycinae) is outstanding; it is distrib- cially true in coffee plantations under shade uted from South-east Asia to India where trees where organisms of different trophic it is the most important pest of C. arabica, levels coexist in a complex network of inter- although it also attacks C. canephora and actions and contribute to regulating phyt- Coffea liberica (Venkatesha and Dinesh, ophagous populations (Oduor and Simons, 2012; Thapa and Lantinga, 2016). Bixadus 2003; Vandermeer et al., 2010; Perfecto sierricola White and Monochamus leucono­ et al., 2014). Nevertheless, these interactions tus (Pascoe) (Lamiidae) are widely distrib- are highly vulnerable to the effect of chem- uted in Africa (Oduor and Simons, 2003; ical pesticides, which are very harmful for Crowe, 2004; Waller et al., 2007; Kutywayo natural enemies. On the other hand, it is ne- et al., 2013); and Plagiohammus maculosus cessary to take into account that while in- (Bates) (Lamiidae) is distributed in Central creasing shade can be unfavourable for America and Mexico (Barrera, 2008; Con- some pests and diseases, it can also favour stantino et al., 2014). Some Cerambycidae, others (Beer et al., 1998; Guharay et al., such as B. sierricola, cause more damage by 2001; Oduor and Simons, 2003).