West Samoa's War
p. 79 · Read in the full issue
On Crop Pests
rE ravages of insect pests in crops in discussed at length in the 1956 Report on Western Samoa recently published in Wellington.
Discussing the territory’s agri culture the report says: “The total losses of crops due to the ravages of insect pests and diseases has in the past not been fully realised. Recent research indicates that these losses may be as high as 25 per cent, for bananas, 15 per cent, for cocoa, and 20 per cent, for copra. In value this would represent approxi mately £450,000, f.0.b., value annually (in Western Samoa).”
The Report notes that the capacity of the Department of Agriculture in that territory is being steadily expanded to combat these losses. At present the rhinoceros beetle causes a loss of up to 5,000 tons of copra annually and the Department’s main drive is towards the elimination of this pest. t A New Caledonian government lotice in July prohibited the publi cation, distribution, importation or sale of any publication emanating from local or overseas Vietnamese sources.