Case study Identity Card 

Long title: BROCAP, coffee berry borer trap
Geographical coverage of the case: Dominican Republic (National)
Case study team: Bernard Dufour (CIRAD, Bioagresseurs), Renaud Lancelot (CIRAD, ASTRE), Hélène Rodriguez (Istom, intern)
Years covered: 1997-2008

Case study description

The innovation under study: The coffee berry borer trap in the Dominican Republic, a game changer

In 1997, CIRAD launched research on trapping coffee berry borers. In 2000, the BROCAP trap was finalised and, several years later, simple agricultural techniques were implemented to supplement the system. Integrated management was adopted throughout the world to protect plantations. In the Dominican Republic, coffee farmers began using traps in 2002, with a positive impact on both producers’ living conditions and the environment. A review of a successful experiment.

In 1997, CIRAD began to look at new methods for managing the coffee berry borer. This small beetle causes severe damage to coffee berries: the female bores into berries in order to lay her eggs, from which larvae emerge and feed on the berry. The harvest is significantly reduced by this pest, and may even be completely lost if the infestation causes the fruits to drop. This insect is particularly difficult to control, since almost all of its cycle takes place within the berry.

The use of insecticides raises health issues and biological control is disappointing. One unexplored option therefore remained: trapping.

From the experimental trap to BROCAP

Two years were needed to produce the experimental trap and the attractant mixture in El Salvador in collaboration with PROCAFE (the Salvadoran coffee research institute), and then to set up tests and develop a prototype.

The first tests were a success. The industrial production of 8 000 traps began in early 2000, and BROCAP was launched. These traps enabled tests to be conducted on a large scale and demonstrations to be carried out among coffee farmers in Central America and the Caribbean. At the same time, CIRAD filed an application for a patent and the BROCAP trademark.

Towards integrated protection: the “triple action” method

However, trapping alone is not enough. It needs to be used within the broader framework of integrated protection. This was the goal of the research conducted from 2005 to 2008.
 This research resulted in the “triple action method”, which combines trapping and simple agricultural techniques such as sanitation harvesting of berries, coffee tree pruning and plot maintenance. It proved to be just as effective as chemical control, and trapping was adopted throughout the world.

Coffee berry borer management in the Dominican Republic

In 2002, CIRAD signed a cooperation agreement with PROCAFE for the commercial use of the trap. It then received a first order from the company FERQUIDO in the Dominican Republic. The coffee berry borer had been a problem in the country since 1995 and, despite an eradication programme based on insecticides and quarantine measures, it continued to proliferate there.

CODOCAFE, the Dominican coffee council, joined the fight against the coffee berry borer in 2001, and CIRAD organised trapping demonstrations in the country, which were a great success with producers. Both organisations then set up training courses in integrated management and the use of BROCAP. But the trap was too expensive for farmers, and sales proved difficult.

An artisanal trap for farmers

In order to reduce the cost of traps, CODOCAFE and IDIAF, the Dominican agricultural research institute, launched the production of an artisanal trap, which they distributed free of charge to a large number of producers. This was a success. The producers now had the technical knowledge and tools required to effectively manage the coffee berry borer.
 Several years later, these two organisations, in collaboration with CIRAD and PROMECAFE, the regional programme for the development of coffee farming, set up a triple action integrated management plan. In the field, technicians advised farmers and inspected plantation maintenance.
 
 Meanwhile, the Dominican company Industrias Quimicas San Francisco began producing dispensers, which it sold to CODOCAFE and to several large producers, in order for the traps to function.

From 2002 to 2011, around 300 000 traps, whether BROCAP or artisanal, were distributed to farmers.

The impact assessment in 2015

What were the repercussions of this innovation within the country? How has it modified famers’ practices? What impact has it had on living conditions and the environment?
 These are just some of the questions CIRAD researchers attempted to answer by organising a number of workshops for all actors in the sector, and conducting more than 100 interviews with farmers, coffee roasters and people involved in the dissemination of the innovation. They began this analysis several years after the project, in 2015.

Capacity building to change agricultural practices

The first impacts of this innovation were of course a lower rate of infestation, which fell from 32% in 1995 to 4.6% in 2012, and a reduction in the use of insecticides, which are both linked to long-term changes in agricultural practices.

With the reduction of losses and the improvement in coffee quality, the producers saw their income increase. But for these producers, the primary benefit is the autonomy they have acquired in coffee berry borer management thanks to their new skills: more than 80% of them mention this autonomy, 90% make the traps themselves, and even more have altered their practices by adopting sanitation harvesting of berries and agricultural control measures. Their capacity for innovation has even been transferred to other areas, such as the complete renovation of plantations with varieties that are resistant to rust, a disease that is currently a threat to coffee farming in the country.

New organisational capacities for institutions

Capacity building does not only apply to farmers. CODOCAFE and the agricultural extension services have also seen their capacities strengthened. The promotion of trapping and, more broadly, coffee berry borer control programmes, have enabled them to consolidate their organisation, their knowledge and their ability to manage plant health problems in general and to support producers throughout the country.

Improvements in living conditions and environmental benefits

A more detailed analysis shows that this innovation also contributes to improving living conditions for producers: all of them say that the additional income they receive from sales of their coffee enables them to invest in household comfort, to cover health and educational expenses, and even to finance leisure activities.

This innovation has also proved beneficial for the environment, with a reduction in insecticide use, which farmers consider to be ineffective anyway and, more surprisingly, with the recycling of empty soft drink bottles, which are used to make the artisanal traps. The corollary of this is that producers are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of environmental protection.

Stakeholders

Stakeholders involved in the innovation process

Research stakeholders: CIRAD ;PROCAFÉ : Fundación Salvadoreña de Investigaciones del café (Salvadorean Coffee Research Foundation)
Exploitation/transfer of research results :CIRAD: valorisation department until 2008;Theme-based Technology Transfer Consortium (CVT) «Valorisation Sud» (since 2013)
Institutional stakeholders :PROMECAFÉ (Regional institutional relationship) : Programa Cooperativo Regional para el Desarrollo Tecnológico y la Modernización de la Caficultura en Centroamerica, Panama, Republica Dominicana y Jamaica, et institutional partners
- In Dominican Republic :CODOCAFÉ : Consejo Dominicano del Café (Dominican Coffee Concil);IDIAF : Instituto Dominicano de Investigación Agropecuaria y Forestal (Dominican Institute of Agricultural et Forestry Research)
Other :Factories (private firms) :
- Salvador : Salvaplastic and Gamma
- Mexico : AMSA (Mexican subsidiary (ECOM group))
- Indonesia : IndoCafCo (Indonesian subsidiary (ECOM group))
- Dominican Republic:FERQUIDO (Fertilizantes y Quimicos Dominicanos;Industrias Quimicas San Francisco

Stakeholders impacted by the innovation process

In Dominican Republic
Value chain stakeholders : Dominican coffee grower;Operators of the Dominican coffee sector
Institutional stakeholders : CODOCAFÉ : Consejo Dominicano del Café (Dominican Coffee Concil)