Project Overview

Reports

Commodities

• Vegetables: sweet potatoes

Target Pests

• Target Pests: insects, Sweet potato weevil

Practices

• Pest Management: biological control, biorational pesticides, chemical control, cultural control, decision support system, monitoring/scouting, other, pesticide application timing, prevention, sanitation, traps

• Crop Production: biological inoculants, cover crops, crop rotation

• Natural Resources/Environment: soil stabilization

• Soil Management: organic matter, soil microbiology, soil quality/health

• Sustainable Communities: local and regional food systems, quality of life, sustainability measures

The center of origin of the sweet potato, Ipomoea batatas L. (Lam), relate to the tropical region of Central and South America that includes from Mexico to the Antilles and the warmer zone of the Andes and Brazil, respectively (Hernández, 1995; Morales, A. et al., 2017). Sweet potatoes are among the top seven staple crops in the world and the fifth most important food in developing countries. In Puerto Rico and the Caribbean sweet potato is one of the daily basic food. Despite being a crop from the Americas, the largest producer and consumer is China with an approximate production of 86 million tons (Cobeña, G. et al, 2017). Total world production of sweet potatoes for 2014 was 106 million tons per meter, where China contributed 67% of world production, followed by Africa with 21%, and The Americas with 3.6% (Truong, VD, et al. 2018). In Puerto Rico, sweet potatoes are preferred with an intermediate sweet flavor, with white, cream, or yellow pulp. For the year 2000, local consumption and production were at 24% with a production of 2,690 tons, and to meet the demand 11,404 tons of sweet potatoes were imported (González, A., 2003). According to the latest data published by the Puerto Rico Department of Agriculture, of the gross agricultural income, 6,139 quintals of sweet potatoes were produced for the year 2013-2014, placing it in the sixth position among the farinaceous crops with the highest production on the Island. One of the major limitations in the production of commercial quality sweet potatoes on the Island is the insect Cylas formicarius, known as the sweet potato weevil (SPW) . This is due to its high capacity to reach high populations and the severity of the attack at the base of the stem and on the tuberous roots (Zhindón, L., 2013). Its effectiveness against sweet potato attack is because it completes its life cycle in 50 days, and the harvest time of the crop is 150 days, which is equivalent to three generations during the development of the crop (González, A. 2003). Furthermore, this crop is planted all year long in Puerto Rico which keeps the life cycle of the insect through the year.  Some sweet potato growers were identified that are willing to use the pheromone traps to monitor and control de SPW as informed by the Farinaceous crops specialist in his visits to farms with the Extension Agents, but there is no formal documentation of how they are using them and how to assess the weevil populations before and during the planting season. Implementing an integrated pest management program for the control of the sweet potato weevil on the island will help escape losses due to its damage that limits production, especially in commercial crops. This project aims to deliver a questionnaire to know the current IPM knowledge of farmers and practices to control SPW.  The process evaluation will be conducted on the two on-farm demonstrations that will be visited monthly to observe applied IPM practices.   Also, we will conduct an outcome evaluation to measure short term outcomes (knowledge gained).  This will be measured through a short questionnaire administered to farmers that visit the on-farm demonstrations, in order to assess what they learn.  At the end of the project, we will present the preliminary SPW IPM plan to farmers in a workshop where a short questionnaire will measure the IPM practices adopted by farmers. An initial IPM plan will help farmers avoid losses associated with this weevil, and improve sweet potato production to meet local demand.