National Cotton Council February, 2004
Objective: To eradicate the pink bollworm from all cotton producing areas of the United States and adjacent areas of northern Mexico. The pink bollworm is costing U.S. cotton producers over $32 million each year in control costs and yield losses. To eliminate this annual burden, the industry began Phase I of a program to eradicate this key cotton pest in 2002.
Timeline & Program Areas: Since this is a grower-driven program, expansion as described in the map and Table 1 below will advance only upon passage of grower referenda.
Technology: The technology used to eradicate the pink bollworm has four primary components: 1) extensive survey; 2) transgenic Bt cotton; 3) pheromone application for mating disruption; and, 4)sterile pink bollworm moth releases. Program technologies are applied on an area-wide basis, and will continueover a four-to-five-year period. First year, possibly two, will combine grower planted Bt cotton, survey trapping and pheromone applications for mating disruption. Remaining program will include use of Bt cotton, pheromones and daily releases of sterile insects to complete eradication of pink bollworm.
Projected Costs: The projected costs to eliminate the pink bollworm are shown below. Grower approved assessments pay for program operations, trapping, and pheromone applications. Planting Bt cotton is encouraged, but it is grower decision. Cost of Bt cotton is a grower expense, but assessments on Bt cotton acres are about half that of non-Bt cotton acres. Cost of sterile insect rearing and daily releases will be provided by USDA APHIS as cost share to the program. Budgets (see Table 1) project an overall cost share of 80% grower and 20% federal dollars.
Table 1.
Pink Bollworm Eradication Program Budgets, Timeline & Cost Share Estimates |
Program Activity | Program Areas | Acres | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | Total |
| Prevention* | San Joaquin Valley, CA | 700,000 | 3.8 | 3.8 | 3.8 | 2.8 | 1.8 | 1.8 | 15.8 |
| Eradication (Phase I) | W. Tex., SC NM, and N. Mexico | 160,000 | 7.4 | 6.6 | - | - | - | - | 14.0 |
| Eradication (Phase II) | East and Central Arizona | 240,000 | 14.0 | 14.4 | 9.3 | 5.7 | - | - | 43.4 |
| Eradication (Phase III) | W. Arizona, S. Calif., and NW Mexico | 276,000 | - | - | 15.7 | 16.0 | 10.2 | 6.3 | 41.9 |
| Total Grower Cost | 25.2 | 24.8 | 28.8 | 24.5 | 12.0 | 8.1 | 115.1 |
| USDA APHIS Rearing & Release Costs (PPQ)*** | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 28.0 |
| Total Program Costs | 30.2 | 29.8 | 33.8 | 29.5 | 16.0 | 12.1 | 143.1 |
| USDA Cost-Share | 17% | 17% | 15% | 17% | 25% | 33% | 20% |
* Budgets include annual grower-APHIS cooperative program to prevent establishment of pink bollworm in San Joaquin Valley
** APHIS funds to support rearing costs for the SJV program and supplementary support for eradication in TX and NM.
*** Amounts shown are funds available after USDA APHIS indirect costs |
Table 2. Pink Bollworm Eradication: 2003 Season Results for Phase I |
Region | Percent Reduction |
| | Moth Trap Numbers* | Larval Infestations in Bolls |
| Trans Pesos/El Paso | 87.0 | 90.0 |
So. Cent. New Mexico | 89.0 | 1.45** |
Chihuahua, Mexico | 96.1 | 90.0 |
* season-long average trap count (TX from ’00, NM & Chihuahua from 2001 levels)
** ’03 figures unavailable, shown are % larvae/100 bolls |
Current Status: As a result of eradication program activities using Bt cotton and mating disruption pheromones during 2003, the pink bollworm moth population across Phase I of the program has been reduced by 87 to 96 percent from 2001 to 2003 (Table 2). Larval infestations in bolls were reduced by nearly 90 % in Texas and were <1 % in NM and Chihuahua, Mexico (Table 2). With population reductions on target, the next technology deployed will be sterile pink bollworm moth releases during the 2005 season.
Appropriations Request: For FY 05, the cotton industry is requesting $7.8 million for USDA APHIS PPQ for pink bollworm. FY05 funds would provide $6.2 million for sterile insects to the SJV, Trans Pecos/El Paso Texas, So. Central NM, Chihuahua, MX and a new area in Eastern AZ, and allow $200,000 for pink bollworm regulatory activities in the APHIS Western Region, and for $1,000,000 in cost share funds to offset program operational costs to the producer. Remaining funds are to provide direct and indirect costs for APHIS.
