RIVERLAND fruit growers, like Waikerie citrus grower Phillip Kroehn, are accessing free bait and lures to kill fruit flies to protect their crops and support fruit fly eradication in the region.
The Department of Primary Industries and Regions’ (PIRSA) self-baiting and lure program is available to commercial growers in 1.5km red outbreak areas as part of a spring eradication plan.
Growers have been registering for the program, but more need to get involved to cover areas of land at risk from fruit fly, according to PIRSA’s general manager of the fruit fly response Nick Secomb.
“Thanks to the support of 40 Riverland growers participating in self-baiting we have an additional 959 hectares of land being treated to prevent fruit fly,” said Mr Secomb.
“Eleven growers have put out 2285 lures that attract and kill fruit flies covering more than 450 hectares.
“The lures are quick and simple to use: You hang them in trees on your property, record their GPS location using a QR code and then leave them to do their work.
“Once deployed, the lures help cover large parts of each outbreak area for around three months.”
Mr Secomb said thanks to grower support, PIRSA had been able to focus in a concentrated way on the highest risk areas.
“We have deployed more than 24,000 lures since August,” he said.
“Some great progress has been made but there are still large pockets of land in red outbreaks areas not being treated or without lures.
“This poses a risk to eradicating fruit fly from the region.
“I strongly encourage all growers in red outbreak areas to speak with PIRSA about the program and register if you can.
“The self-baiting and lure program will run from now until at least December 2022.
“Registered growers will receive free Naturalure bait and/or MAT cup lures. Growers can apply for both bait and lures or just one if they aren’t able to do both.
“The more growers there are using the lures the better chance there is of reducing fruit fly numbers and allowing sterile insect technology (SIT) flies to be effective in stopping the lifecycle of any remaining wild flies.”
Mr Kroehn recently applied for the self-baiting and lure program and has set up 300 MAT cups on his property.
“I noticed PIRSA advertising free MAT cup lures for Riverland growers located in fruit fly red outbreak areas, and thought it was a good opportunity to do something proactive on my property,” he said.
“I registered online and then a PIRSA officer contacted me to organise collection.
“It was an easy process from there; I downloaded the instruction form, hung each MAT cup in the tree and scanned the QR code. PIRSA staff were also available for support if I had any questions.
“As a local grower and community member, I can see first-hand how important it is to eradicate fruit fly from the Riverland. The impact of fruit fly not only affects the Riverland’s horticulture industry but our way of life, such as the freedom of growing and sharing your home-grown fruit and vegetables with friends and family.
“I encourage my fellow Riverland growers to get involved with the self-baiting and lure program to ensure greater reach to eradicate the pest.”
Any commercial growers in a red outbreak area keen to be part of the self-baiting and lure program should visit fruitfly.sa.gov.au, email fruitfly@sa.gov.au or call 1300 666 010 to request a registration form.
