Validation and Economic Assessment of the First C4RPWC Red Palm Weevil Management Bundle in UAE

Arash Nejatian, Hamadttu ElShafie, Aswathi Sasidharan. (15/9/2026). Validation and Economic Assessment of the First C4RPWC Red Palm Weevil Management Bundle in UAE. Beirut, Lebanon: International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA).

Abstract

Output 5.12: Potential innovations bundled and validated. The C4RPWC Workstream 5, Work Package 1 (WS5-WP1) is designed to move Red Palm Weevil (RPW), Rhynchophorus ferrugineus, management technologies from individual interventions toward practical, integrated and economically viable management bundles that can be implemented by growers under commercial farming conditions. The United Arab Emirates is being used as a field test-bed to validate mature technologies, assess how they perform when combined, and determine whether the benefits achieved at farm level justify the additional cost of adoption. The first C4RPWC RPW management bundle therefore represents a base configuration, rather than a fixed or final package. Technologies validated through other C4RPWC activities can subsequently be added, substituted, or combined to develop improved or alternative bundles. Across the UAE, 37 date palm farms were selected for WS5-WP1 technology-validation and deployment activities. The present field-effectiveness and economic assessment focuses on 16 commercial farms where the complete first base bundle was deployed and where reliable before–after data on severe RPW-related palm removal were available.