Why Red Imported Fire Ants Spread So Easily and How to Control Them
The red imported fire ant is a type of ant harmful to humans; once bitten by this ant, the wound becomes red, swollen and inflamed. So how do you control red imported fire ants? Let's take a look. Red imported fire ant control cannot rely solely on environmental protection, agriculture or epidemic prevention agencies, as it is often hampered by differing land jurisdiction
The red imported fire ant is a type of ant harmful to humans; once bitten by this ant, the wound becomes red, swollen and inflamed. So how do you control red imported fire ants? Let's take a look.
Red imported fire ant control cannot rely solely on environmental protection, agriculture or epidemic prevention agencies; because the responsible authorities for each piece of land differ, for example land under the education or transportation departments, the red imported fire ant colonies on it must be controlled by the unit itself. But when there is a lack of communication on treatment progress and the timing of bait application, and each party uses baits or poisoning agents separately, the control results are likely to fall short of expectations, causing the fire to be put out here while it flares up somewhere else! Lin Zongqi said that both Taoyuan City and New Taipei City have cross-agency integrated approaches to red imported fire ant control with good results, and other counties and cities could consider following suit.
Lin Zongqi said that given the current national red imported fire ant control area of more than 76000 hectares, Taoyuan, once a severely affected area, has seen its red imported fire ant infestation area shrink because of implemented red imported fire ant control projects. Lin Zongqi stressed that red imported fire ant queens have wings and spread the colony by flying, so red imported fire ant control should be coordinated between local governments and the Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine to achieve cross-regional control actions; do not wait until the red imported fire ants are at your doorstep to feel anything, only to realize the seriousness of the situation once your own outbreak expands.
When projects carry out earthwork or plant movement operations, if the soil used is contaminated by red imported fire ants, it will accelerate their spread, so some public works contracts specify that a red imported fire ant-free certificate must be obtained. But Lin Zongqi said that because the National Red Imported Fire Ant Control Center is short-staffed, much of the red imported fire ant inspection work is carried out by local governments, so some red imported fire ant-free certificates are issued by local governments; Lin Zongqi admitted that having people with insufficient red imported fire ant control expertise issue red imported fire ant-free certificates is "very strange".
In addition, some projects issue a "red imported fire ant-free affidavit" to indicate the safety of the soil used for the project and plants. Lin Zongqi said that in practice it is actually found that most affidavits are signed by the site manager after self-inspection without the accompaniment of experts, so it is often seen that the earthwork has red imported fire ants, yet the flow of red imported fire ant-carrying earthwork cannot be controlled. Lin Zongqi stressed that according to the "Standard Operating Procedures for Red Imported Fire Ant Detection, Control, and Movement Control of Plants and Earthwork at Construction Sites", project units must self-manage and inspect for red imported fire ants, but without a supervision mechanism it is difficult to implement red imported fire ant prevention.
Red imported fire ant control mostly uses biological regulators as baits, requiring large amounts of funding and manpower to apply. Xu Chunliang, section chief of the Agriculture Affairs Section of Miaoli County, said that many townships, towns and cities in Miaoli County have successively discovered red imported fire ants, with an infested area of about 1300 hectares, and the area is trending toward expansion. This year 300000 yuan has been obtained for red imported fire ant control, plus local matching funds, with Toufen City Office adding 800000 yuan and Nanzhuang Township 100000 yuan; with insufficient funding and limited manpower, red imported fire ant control is extremely difficult.
Xu Chunliang pointed out that invading red imported fire ants spread through various routes, such as queens moving by flying, or colonies spreading through seedlings and plants and earthwork movement. Looking at the past trajectory of red imported fire ant invasions, they gradually spread southward from the Taoyuan area; the defense line used to be in Hsinchu, but after Hsinchu County and City fell, the red imported fire ant control defense line moved south to Miaoli. However, the Miaoli area has many hilly terrains, making manual spraying of agents difficult, and with insufficient manpower and funding, it is hard to completely eradicate red imported fire ants.