ABSTRACT

The boll weevil eradication program in the United States began in 1983 to rid the Cotton Belt of the boll weevil, Anthonomus grandis Boheman.

To date, the boll weevil has been eradicated from nearly 6.0 million acres of cotton in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, most of Alabama, Middle Tennessee, West Texas, Southern California, and Arizona, as well as from the neighboring regions of the Mexicali Valley, Sonoita, and Caborca in Mexico.

The program is currently operating in an additional 9.1 million acres of cotton in Mississippi, Tennessee, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas, and New Mexico. Further, pending positive grower referenda, the program is scheduled to expand in 2003 to include additional 0.45 million acres in the Northeast Delta of Arkansas and the Northern Blacklands region of Texas. This will result in over 98% of the Cotton Belt being involved in boll weevil eradication, with 38% having completed eradication and the remaining 60% nearing eradication.

The remarkable environmental, biological, and economic benefits realized in the eradicated regions make boll weevil eradication one of the most important agricultural programs in history.