Sweetpotato weevils are the most important sweetpotato pest in the world. Different species prevail in different geographic areas. The South American species, Euscepes postfasciatus, occurs in South America and a few other places. The Asian species, Cylas formicarius, is present in the Caribbean, southern United States, and Asia. The African species Cylas puncticollis and C. brunneus are restricted to sub-Saharan Africa.

CIP's strategy for managing Asian species focuses on a series of measures designed to use non-infested sweetpotato cuttings as planting material, increase the action of natural enemies (predatory ants and the fungus Beauveria bassiana), and reduce the rate of increase of the population by mass trapping of males with sex pheromones. Sex pheromones, produced by females of many insect species to attract males for mating, have been extremely effective in detecting pest infestation levels.

Despite intensive efforts to develop true resistant plants, little has been achieved so far. Therefore, attention is turning to pseudoresistance—escaping weevil damage through deeper formation of storage roots and short-season varieties, which are exposed to weevil infestation for less time.