QFF outbreaks across the Goulburn Valley are expanding as the summer heats up and host fruit becomes more attractive to the pest.
Fruit flies have been reported in traps at Cobram, Mooroopna, Shepparton, Merrigum, Kyabram and Nagambie.
While fruit fly numbers surge during spring, Goulburn-Murray Valley Regional Fruit Fly Project co-ordinator Ross Abberfield says previous seasons had seen the problem contained, but the numbers in traps had more recently increased.
He is concerned that if growers cannot find enough pickers this season, unpicked fruit will become host to a growing number of the insects.
G-MV Fruit Fly Project chairman Tony Siciliano said the season was shaping up as a challenging one and the organisation had not received any future funding commitment from the Victorian Government.
Victorian Agriculture Minister Mary-Anne Thomas said recently funding for the project was a budget decision that had not yet been made.
Mr Siciliano said they needed to know now.
“We can't just say to the fruit fly: stop now, while we wait for a decision,” he said.
“We're talking about half a million dollars for an industry worth billions of dollars.”
Mr Siciliano was concerned that a bigger outbreak could threaten valuable export markets.
The fruit fly program, operating across five shires in the Goulburn-Murray valleys, annually receives about $500,000 from the Victorian Government.
The program draws on resources from local government and volunteers and employs 450 traps in three grids, and has already removed thousands of unmanaged fruit trees on private land.
Mr Siciliano fears that a review of the fruit fly strategy being conducted by Agriculture Victoria would lead to a watering down of the current program.
Mr Abberfield said in previous seasons fruit fly emerged in the spring and they had been able to reduce numbers as the season progressed.
He said the uncertainty over future funding may be impacting on public perceptions of the threat from the pest and leading to less engagement from the public.
Residents are advised by field officers if they live in ‘hot spots’, and if they cannot manage their fruit trees for various reasons, to apply to have them removed at no cost and avoid creating a breeding habitat that will impact upon their neighbours.
Agriculture Victoria Chief Plant Health Officer Rosa Crnov said since September, Agriculture Victoria has been consulting with stakeholders on a new fruit fly strategy which will fit with a national fruit fly management system, including nation-wide prevention and eradication of exotic species and local management of established species.
An evaluation of the Managing Fruit Fly Action Plan was completed in 2019 which reflected positively on the regional area-wide management programs. Subsequently, Agriculture Victoria incorporated support for area-wide management as one of the three key areas of the draft Victorian Fruit Fly Strategy.
Agriculture Victoria has developed a proposed strategy for the future management of fruit fly and is consulting with stakeholders before its finalisation in May 2021. The proposed strategy spans four years from 2021-2025 and aligns with the recently released National Fruit Fly Strategy 2021-2025.
Dr Crnov said the strategy had been available for public consultation since September 2020.
Agriculture Victoria has engaged with stakeholder groups including the Goulburn-Murray Valley.
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