Coffee Berry Insect Pests and their Parasitoids in the Afromontane Rainforests of Southwestern Ethiopia

A study was conducted to investigate the presence, intensity and damages caused to coffee berries by major insect pests of coffee in wild coffee populations in Afromontane rainforests of Southwestern Ethiopia. The parasitoids associated with those insect pests were also studied. Based on ecological descriptions of forest coffee population, each forest locality was stratified in to three forest sites. In each stratum, 40 coffee trees were randomly taken for insect pests and parasitoids collection; whereas 16 random coffee trees were used to study the incidence of the pests on coffee berries at different phenological stages. Fifteen insect pest species in 10 families under five orders were recorded. Among the insects recorded, Ceratitis fasciventris (Bezzi) and Ceratitis anonae Graham were new records for Ethiopia. Similarly, Prorops nasuta and Psyttalia spp. were new parasitoids reported for the first time in Ethiopia. The damage caused by coffee berry moth was low and analysis of variance revealed that there is a significant difference (P  0.05) among the forest coffee populations. Fruit fly mean incidences on ripen coffee berries reached 52.12% ± 14.31, 71.08% ± 4.48 and 82.73% ± 3.61 at Yayu, Berhane-Kontir and Bonga, respectively. Mean damage by Hypothenemus hampei was less than 10% in most of the forest coffee populations, which is relatively low incidences in less disturbed ecosystem. In general, difference in occurrences of insect pest incidences between and within forest coffee populations was observed, which could be due to variations in ecology, and diversity of the insect pests and their parasitoids. From the results, it is thought that these forest coffee sites would be used as the main genetic resources for exploration of insect pests and their natural enemies in the future, which undoubtedly needs detailed research work.