Papua New Guinea's West Sepik Province will miss out on cocoa earnings this year after revelations that the cocoa pod borer had affected the crop since 2003.
The Post Courier newspaper reports the damage was worse then the ones at Kerevat in East New Britain.
It was also revealed that since then cocoa production had been "none to very little" in Aitape, the main cocoa growing area of the province.
Chairman of the ENB CPB committee and national response unit coordinator Hosea Turbarat said the infestation was not reported until after evidence found in Kerevat that raised national concern.
Mr Turbarat said officials from the province visited Kerevat for training and demonstrated how to prune the cocoa trees, remove affected pods and start eradicating the cocoa pest.
