Black Sea region faces threat of invasive brown skunk

TRABZON

A species of insect commonly known as the brown skunk, whose numbers are steadily increasing, and which invades homes and infests plants, poses a threat to various agricultural products, especially hazelnuts, in the Black Sea region, which dominate the world market in hazelnut production.

The insect, which was identified to arrive Türkiye from Georgia seven years ago, has since accelerated its spread in the country, covering a distance of 30 kilometers daily. The brown skunk feeds on the leaves and extracts the sap from plants, ultimately drying up their roots, posing a significant risk to hazelnuts and other agricultural products in the region.

In the ongoing effort to combat this invasive insect, both biological and chemical methods, along with manual collection and elimination, are being employed. As part of the biological warfare against this pest, over 30,000 “samurai bees” imported from China were released into the wild in Artvin this year. It has also been estimated that the infestation causes an annual economic loss of 5 billion Turkish Liras.

Sebahattin Arslantürk, a member of the board of directors of the National Hazelnut Council (UFK), expressed concerns that if the population of this invasive insect continues to expand, it may cause up to an 80 percent damage to hazelnuts next year.

"A single pair of brown skunks can lay around 14,000 eggs during the season, underscoring the profound extent of damage,” he said.

"We might be facing a catastrophe next season. Biological warfare has been initiated with the introduction of the samurai bees. However, they have not been released into nature in sufficient quantities; only in Artvin. In the coming years, they will be released in other regions as well. Nevertheless, we will only see the results in the next three years. Chemical warfare is imperative," he added.