Bored Rotten: Interactions Between the Coffee Berry Borer and Coffee Fruit Rot

The coffee berry borer (CBB) is the most destructive pest of coffee worldwide, with damages exceeding $500 M a year and affecting the livelihood of 25 million farmers. Coffee fruit rot (CFR) is described as an anthracnose disease; it can cause up to 80% loss of the crop on susceptible cultivars when conditions favor it. These two serious threats to coffee production have been studied separately, but a link between them was not shown until recently. Several recent studies show that CBB damage is associated with a higher incidence of fruit rot; CBBs carry Colletotrichum and Fusarium fungi, also found in rotted fruits, and can transmit disease to coffee fruits as they bore into them. Previous studies on the relationship between CBB and Fusarium did not take into account that Fusarium is involved in coffee fruit rot, so these recent findings shed new light on the relationship. Here we discuss this relationship and its implications, both ecological and practical.