RIYADH: The national campaign to save palm trees from Red Palm Weevil began Saturday with 1,500 Saudi specialists sent out to farms across the country. The campaign, which is costing SR120 million and hopes to save approximately 6.5 million palm trees, is focusing on areas of dense palm tree presence, with Al-Ahsa the most prominent single region with its three million palms. Fahd Aal Saqan from the Ministry of Agriculture said that trees would be targeted according to how badly they have been affected, following a “specific procedure by beginning with the south of the regions hit and moving towards the north”. In this way the campaign will work against the direction of the wind, by which the affliction spreads. “This is a practical way chosen for its suitability to the current climate and wind direction,” Saqan said. He added that new technology would help in the current campaign to combat 80 percent, including a needle injection system that administers pesticide to three trees at a time for three consecutive days. “The process uses completely safe substances and does no damage to the fruit. Quantities administered are measured in a precision fashion in view of the moisture of the palm trees, and further depending on the height and age of the tree,” he said. Agricultural reports for 2010 state that 60,000 palm trees were affected by Red Palm Weevil, with 30,000 having to be destroyed. Seven million palms were present at infected sites, meaning an infection rate of one percent. The sites where Red Palm Weevil proliferated, according to the reports, were Al-Ahsa, Qatif, Al-Kharj, Wadi Al-Duwaisir, Al-Diri'iya, Tabuk, Najran, Makkah and Qasim.
