Awareness materials

Make your community aware of the ways to reduce the spread of coconut pests and diseases. 

Raising community awareness of potential pests and disease risks is useful in early detection, rapid response to incursions and preventing the accidental introduction of new threats.

Ways to share your message : Awareness materials for coconut pests and diseases : Examples of sharing information on natural enemies

Ways to share your message

Consider running an awareness campaign. Campaigns encouraging passive surveillance can include media such as posters, radio slots, videos, fact sheets, presentations, leaflets. 

Radio is an inexpensive way to get a large amount of information to a broad group of people.

Community meetings are good because you can provide visual materials, and the community can interact with you.

We have created a template in Microsoft PowerPoint that you can download and use to make your own posters and leaflets using the information in this toolkit. When you print the slides, make sure you choose the option to 'scale to fit' the paper you are printing on.

Whichever media are chosen, some of the key messages are:

  • What the pest / disease is called.
  • An image and description of its size and colour (pests).
  • Description of symptoms.
  • Why it is a problem.
  • Where it has come from.
  • Where you might find it and where it lives.
  • What people can do to avoid spreading the pest / disease.
  • Who to contact if the pest / disease has possibly been seen.

Back to top

 

make your own posters_opt

Example of a PowerPoint slide for Coconut rhinoceros beetle, which can be used as a poster or leaflet 

You can find some examples of quick guide posters from Hawaiiscape.

You could also create a calendar with a different pest or disease each month. See examples from the Florida Department of Agriculture.

More ideas for creating awareness materials:

Back to top

 

WantedAliveCard_opt

Flashcard describing beneficial insect flashcard (© The University of Hawai'i) 

Letters to the media

You can share your message with the media. See the 'Cry of the copra farmers' letter to the Editor of the Solomon Islands Sunday Star newspaper, on the right, advocating for Solomon Islands coconut producers.

You can use these awareness materials to get ideas about creating posters and brochures for your community.

You can use the information and images on this website to create awareness materials. Please be mindful of copyright issues and remember to credit the owner of any images that you use.

Please let us know if you have awareness materials that you would like to share, especially the follwoing:

  • Coconut foliar decay (CFDV)
  • Coconut sexava treehopper
  • Finschhafen disorder

Awareness materials for coconut pests and diseases

Ants

Awareness posters (Pacific Invasive Ant Toolkit, Pacific Biosecurity) [ONLINE]

Aspergillus mould

Infographic (Agriculture for Nutrition and Health) [ONLINE]

Factsheet (PestNet) [ONLINE]

 

schola article_opt

Article © Schola Aitora, Manager Solomon Islands Copra Exporters Ltd.

Bogia coconut syndrome (BCS)

Awareness brochure for the Torres Strait Islands (Department of Agriculture and Water Resources, Australia)

Cadang-cadang disease

Disease primer (Philippine Coconut Authority) [ONLINE]

Datasheet (CABI and EPPO) [ONLINE]

Coconut bug

Factsheet (Plant Health Australia) [ONLINE]

Coconut flat moth

Diagnostic images (PaDILL) [ONLINE]

Coconut hispine beetle

Life-cycle, Behaviour and biology and Factsheet (Asia - Pacific Forest Invasive Species Network) [ONLINE]

Slideshare (FAO) [ONLINE]

Coconut leaf miner

Species identification and life-history (United States Department of Agriculture, IdTools) [ONLINE]

Poster and factsheet (PestNet) [ONLINE]

Advisory circular (Coconut Research Institute of Sri Lanka) [ONLINE]

Coconut mite 

Advisory circular (Coconut Research Institute of Sri Lanka) [ONLINE]

Coconut rhinoceros beetle - Oryctes rhinoceros

Life-cycle (College of Natural and Applied Sciences, University of Guam) [ONLINE]

Behaviour and biology (College of Natural and Applied Sciences, University of Guam) [ONLINE]

Information sheet (College of Natural and Applied Sciences, University of Guam) [ONLINE]

Field guide (Plant Heroes) [ONLINE]

Coconut scale 

Advisory circular (Coconut Research Institute of Sri Lanka) [ONLINE]

Back to top

Coconut termite

Awareness newsletter (Pacific Pest Detector News) [ONLINE]

Ganoderma butt rot

Information sheet (University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences) [ONLINE]

Factsheet (United States Department of Agriculture, IdTools) [ONLINE]

Lethal yellowing

Information sheet (University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences [ONLINE]

Pest alert flyer (Government of Trinidad and Tobago Ministry of Food Production) [ONLINE]

Life cycle of phytoplasmas (Faculty of Forest Sciences, Department of Forest Mycology and Plant Pathology Uppsala) [ONLINE]

Information sheet (Louisiana State University Agricultural Center) [ONLINE]

Mealybugs

Awareness and life cycle Vimeo (Koppert Biological Systems) [ONLINE]

Melanesian coconut rhinoceros beetle

Factsheet (PestNet) [ONLINE]

Back to top

Palm weevils

Life-cycle and Behaviour and biology (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) [ONLINE]

Information sheet (United States Department of Agriculture) [ONLINE]

Postcard (California Department of Food and Agriculture) [ONLINE]

Poster (California Department of Food and Agriculture) [ONLINE]

YouTube video (University of California, Riverside) [ONLINE]

Rats

Factsheet (PestNet) [ONLINE]

Pest alert flyer (Department of Agriculture and Food and the State of Western Australia) [ONLINE]

Red palm mite

Monthly calendar (Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services) [ONLINE]

Red ring disease

Datasheet (United States Department of Agriculture) [ONLINE]

Pest alert flyer (Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services) [ONLINE]

Tinangaja

Plant diseases poster (College of Natural and Applied Sciences, University of Guam) [ONLINE]

Back to top

Consider the bigger picture - pests and their enemies

Some pest insects can look very similar to beneficial or harmless insects.

Creating awareness of natural enemies of coconut pests is also important.

It may be helpful to have a visual guide such as a poster for your community to know the difference between them.

The University of Hawai'i has created flashcards for beneficial insects and a poster for integrated pest management (IPM). 

Back to top

 

Papaya-Pests-Poster_opt-2

Poster showing pest and beneficial insects of Papaya and where they can be found (© Scientific Advisory Services) 

 

 

Previous page: Learning & teaching Next page: Workshop programme