Muscat – The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Water Resources (MAFWR) started a campaign to combat the spread of red palm weevil in 66 villages in Dhahirah on Sunday.

A statement issued by MAFWR said, ‘Forty-five teams started the extensive field campaign to combat the red palm weevil from the wilayat of Yanqul in Dhahirah on Sunday.’

The campaign, which will continue till March 2, aims to ensure the safety of palm trees and take precautionary measures to prevent the spread of insects to uninfected palm trees in 66 villages.

The ministry also revealed the results of an integrated management programme carried out in the first half of 2022 to curb red palm weevil infestation. The results showed an increase of 16.4 per cent in the number of infected palm trees across Oman from 19,278 to 22,444 last year.

Efforts of field teams and the ministry specialists led to the treatment of 18,213 palm trees, or 81.2 per cent of the total infected in H1 2022. ‘This is 14.3 per cent more than H1 2021, when 15,937 palm trees were treated.’

In 2022, 4,231 infected palm trees were felled, or 18.9 per cent of the total infected, compared to 3,341 felled in 2021, representing 17.3 per cent of the total infected.

Field teams trapped 50,312 red palm weevils using 3,867 trapping devices in 2022, compared to 42,915 in 2021.