SEVENTY-five times more money goes into controlling Queensland Fruit Fly than that spent on research into beating the pest.
In his presentation to the Citrus Technical Forum in March, Queensland Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry’s Peter Leach said an estimated $150 million is spent on fruit fly control each year and only $2 million invested in research and development (R&D).
“While $2 million per year may sound impressive it’s not nearly enough for an industry worth $4 billion per annum,” Mr Leach said.
“More funding is needed to undertake R&D in a vast country like Australia where each production area has its own unique fruit fly problem.
“With such a serious issue you have to ask what opportunities have Australian agriculture lost by not having access to international markets as a result of Q-fly and finding affective controls that deliver residue free product.”
He said while lures and baits have improved, he recommends growers speak to their local researcher to get a greater understanding of what will work best in each region.
“Growers need to get on the front foot and start their fruit fly control months before the fly typically appears,” Mr Leach said.
He added further research into Sterile Insect Technologies (SIT) are also promising but they need a significant amount of funding to work effectively and without significant funding then “you’re wasting your money”.
Horticulture Innovation Australia (HIA) David Moore said SIT has been used successfully in South Australia and Western Australia on Mediterranean fruit fly and is an environmentally friendly option to the use of chemicals.
He said that industry knows that there will be no new chemicals available that will provide 90 per cent control of fruit fly for the next decade.
“I believe Sterile Insect Technique is something worth investing in significantly – and that’s what we have been doing for the past few years,” Mr Moore said.
He discussed the national R&D initiative SITplus – a $22 million research partnership committed to a strategic, coordinated and national approach to Q-fly management – and how the program aims to find cost effective solutions to Q-fly through an integrated approach based on commercial deployment on enhanced SIT.
Critical to the program is the development of male-only line of Q-fly that will help reduce the population of fruit fly and manage the problem.