Home › General News › Article

Red imported fire ant control is extremely difficult; New Taipei, Miaoli and Kinmen are all severely affected areas and urgently need central government support

General News 0 views
The battle against red imported fire ants is arduous and urgently needs central government rescue; from New Taipei to Miaoli, the offshore island of Kinmen are all severely affected areas

Red imported fire ants have ravaged Taiwan, China for 16 years and remain a difficult control problem to this day. The Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine recently announced that in 3 areas - the Kaohsiung Port container distribution yard, the Southern Branch of the National Palace Museum in Chiayi County, and Gongliao District in New Taipei City - no trace of red imported fire ants had been confirmed over the past 6 months, and they have been successfully eradicated and officially removed from the regulated list. In 108 of the Republic of China calendar year, the government invested more resources in red imported fire ant control, showing initial results.

However, the main range of red imported fire ants is in northern Taiwan, China, from south of the Tamsui River to north of the Touqian River, covering New Taipei, Taoyuan and Hsinchu, as well as the offshore island of Kinmen. In April this year, Miaoli also reported that over a thousand hectares had been hit by an ant infestation. The Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine used sporadic cases in southern areas such as Kaohsiung and Chiayi to illustrate its results, but these are actually not representative.

The Agricultural Affairs Section of the Taoyuan Agriculture Bureau and the Kinmen Quarantine Station even pointed out that military camps are a major blind spot in control, because of insufficient management manpower and because the military is unwilling to let agricultural land control personnel enter, believing there is a risk of leaking national defense secrets, making control work even more difficult.

New Taipei City: If you cut the grass but do not pull out the roots, it will grow again with the spring breeze

Jiabao Village in Linkou District, New Taipei City, is deeply troubled by red imported fire ants. Village chief Huang Chien-pang said that 90% of red imported fire ants appear in agricultural land, causing great harm to crops and farmers' personal safety. In residential areas, because residents pay attention to hygiene and safety, harm is heard of less often.

During farming activities, farmers disturb the ant mounds in the fields through plowing, spraying pesticides and mowing, attracting red imported fire ant bites. "Many farmers are very afraid of red imported fire ants. When they see bit marks on their legs, some run to large hospitals for tetanus shots." Huang Chien-pang said with distress that in July this year he received 10 reports, all occurring in agricultural land.

Huang Chien-pang later reported upward, and the farmers' association, city councilors and the New Taipei City Agriculture Bureau came to Jiabao Village to assist with control. They held briefing sessions to teach farmers how to apply pesticides and place bait, and there has now been obvious improvement. He pointed out that the poor control results before were related to the application method. In the past, pesticides were only sprayed to kill the adult ants spreading through the fields, and they died within 3-5 days after spraying, but not long after, new red imported fire ants hatched and their numbers recovered again.

"Now the point is to keep them from hatching!" Huang Chien-pang said. At present, sterilizing bait combined with pesticide application has improved things a great deal, and after control, there were only 2 reports in August.

Related Articles