Coinciding with this year's dates harvest season, which extends from last June to the end of August in the districts of Wadi Hadramout, many farmers complain that they have incurred heavy losses as a result of the sickness of palm trees in their fields due to the Ommatissus lybicus bug.
The Ommatissus lybicus may be known as the Dubas bug or date palm hopper and is a significant pest of date palms: with sap sucking resulting in sooty mould formation on leaves. It is a piercing sucking insect, with a greenish-yellowish color. Its fully grown insects and five-stage nymphs (nymph: it is the initial stage of the insect's life with imperfect development) absorb the plant sap of palm trees strongly, and secrete abundant and accumulated honey material on all parts of the palm tree that looks shiny. Hence it was named as (Dubas), and most likely, the substance secreted by this pest is the secret of the shining of the leaves and fronds of palm trees, which is visible to the beholder from afar.
Attractive to fungi
Specialists in this field assert that this process weakens and impedes the photosynthesis of the palm tree, burns its leaves and fronds, brings dust to it, and attracts fungi to it, and creates mold. This leads to an early death of the fruit, a permanent growing disability, the weakness of the tall tree with the passage of time, and its dying and slow submission to death. As an inevitable result, the yield of dates decreased dramatically, as the production of one tree, which used to produce from 30 to 50 kilograms, decreased to less than 10 kilograms.
As for the dates growers, they confirm their failure to combat this well-organized insect with a high sense of time, especially after its damage has increased significantly, and its prevalence has expanded in varying proportions - especially in the last five years - to include the governorates of Hadramout Coast, Al-Mahra, Shabwa, and Socotra. This threatens the cultivation of palm trees in general, as one of the most important crops for food security in Yemen.
Moreover, dates represent the most prominent agricultural crop that Hadramout Governorate is famous for, both on the coast and in the valley, in terms of: its quality, large quantities of production, and the different types and varieties that exceed 66 varieties. Consequently, the Hadrami dates ranked at the top of the list of the five strategic crops of the Republic of Yemen, along with: coffee, honey, corn, and onions.
The size of area planted with palm trees in Hadramout governorate alone constitutes about (6,092 hectares), or 32% of the total areas implanted with palm trees in Yemen, with a production capacity of about (32,728 tons) of dates as an average in one annual harvest season, according to published data of the Department of Statistics and Agricultural Information at the Yemeni Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation in 2019.
The first appearance of the Dubas pest all over Yemen was in 2002, specifically in the Manar district (west of the Al-Ghaidha district, the capital of Al-Mahra governorate), coming probably from the Sultanate of Oman, and then it continued its nonstop creep to the neighboring governorate of Hadramout due to the winds.
The discovery of the first Dubas insect
Dr. Salem Bashumilah, a researcher at the branch of the General Authority for Agricultural Research and Extension in the Hadramout Valley and Desert, indicates that the first case of the Dubas insect was recorded throughout Yemen in 2002, specifically in the Manar district (west of Al-Ghaidha district, the capital of Al-Mahra governorate) coming from the Sultanate of Oman, and then continued its unremitting advance to the neighboring governorate of Hadramout, due to the winds. It was found that the wind has a fundamental role in transporting the insect to long distances of 50 to 100 kilometers. Additionally, the weakness of the internal agricultural quarantine at the border crossings between the governorates also helped in its expansion.
In an interview with "Khuyut", Dr. Jamal Basaheh, Director of the Plant Protection Department at the Agriculture, Irrigation and Fisheries Office in the Hadramout Valley and Desert, said that there are other reasons that helped spread of this pest and created a fertile and suitable environment for it to reproduce. These causes include: the traditional farming conditions, which in most fields are characterized by excessive neglect and carelessness of palm trees as well as intense crowding in the distances between palm trees. These are harmful practices resulting from the lack of awareness among farmers, due to the poor agricultural guidance and education role as a result of the scarcity of funds and resources of the Ministry of Agriculture.
Engineer Shukri Ba Mousa, Director General of the Office of the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Fisheries in the Hadramout Valley and Desert, told Khuyut that the first appearance of the Dubas pest in the districts of Wadi Hadramout was recorded in the area of Sharj al-Shareef in the province of Hoora and Wadi Al-Ain in December 2003, and the bug later stretched as he describes: "Like wildfire in all districts of the Hadrami valley." However, it is officially proven that the Anti-Dubas campaigns began through farm preventive with pesticides teams but with modest capabilities that do not correspond to the scale of the imminent disaster, and whose exorbitant impacts appeared with the passage of time.
Omar Salem (43 years old), the owner of a date palm field in the Tareem district, told "Khuyut": "We have been unable to fight this pest regardless of the various means, but in vain. Look there, you may see hundreds of palm trees in front of you, but unfortunately the fruits are damaged and unfit for sale. In fact, the date crop was destroyed because of this destructive insect so that it become of no market value, and we can never find anyone buying these foul-smelling dates that are saturated with the honeyed substance secreted by and the resulting black mold, which has made the dates rotten and inedible.
The importance of spreading awareness
Agricultural engineer Ali Buraik, who is the agricultural sector projects officer at the Small and Micro Enterprises Development Agency (SMEPS), Hadramout branch, confirmed to "Khuyut" that the agency contributes to the eradication of this insect in all its agricultural interventions by spreading awareness among farmers and the actual application of leaving sufficient spatial distances between the newly planted palm trees, which can greatly limit the spread of the insect. He believes that this approach must be taken by all local and international organizations working and interested in the agricultural sector.
Further, Mohammad Ali (37 years), the owner of a date packaging factory from the Shibam district, warned of the interruption of the livelihoods of thousands of people who depend on selling dates as their source of livelihood in Wadi Hadramout, to provide for their essential daily needs. Feasibly, these farmers will face difficult conditions in the coming days if the situation remains as it is now.
Many believe that it was easy to overcome this pest during the early stages of its spread, and the matter would have become more feasible in terms of financial cost, but the absence of the state’s strategy and serious approach to support an important and promising sector such as the palm sector, combating its pests, and marketing its products has significantly harmed it, until it reached this complicated stage.
Engineers and agricultural specialists fear an imbalance in the environmental balance of this insect, as a result of the implementation of numerous control campaigns to eradicate it, which may have led to the emergence of new strains resistant to pesticides.
Even worse, many engineers and agricultural specialists believe that it is very likely that an imbalance in the ecological balance of this insect will occur, as a result of the application of several control campaigns to eliminate this pest, which may have led to the emergence of resistant strains due to the total reliance on chemical control, as they said.
For that reason, they propose at the same time to solving this problem through a package of solutions and remedies, represented in: the state's adoption of regular national campaigns - as it was in the past - in the most affected areas, in addition to establishing a research center for palm trees, encouraging textile cultivation, selecting excellent varieties, especially imported ones, establishing advanced packaging factories, and supporting the marketing of dates.
