THE battle lines have been drawn for a blitz against a massive spring locust plague, the state’s Primary Industries Minister says.
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Steve Whan yesterday opened the Plague Locust State Coordination Centre at Orange’s NSW Industry and Investment headquarters.
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He said the outbreak was shaping up to be the worst in at least three decades.
Eggs buried across the state, as many as 10,000 per square metre, will begin hatching within weeks.
“We need to be realistic about it, nothing the government can do, nothing landholders can do, can eliminate this plague,” Mr Whan said.
“We can only try to minimise the impact of the plague and number of locusts attacking crops across NSW.”
Eggs have been reported on properties near Orange.
Normally, 80 per cent of the eggs do not survive, however, because weather conditions have been ideal this year, authorities predict 80 per cent will survive.
“That’s a huge turnaround in the survival rate of these locusts and means the scale of the plague will be much bigger than it has been in previous years,” Mr Whan said.
“This is something that has a potential economical impact that is massive for the state of NSW.”
Locusts have the potential to put a huge dent in farmers’ incomes and force grocery prices to climb.
“If we have major damage to crops that obviously flows through to the price you pay for bread and things like that in the longer term,” Mr Whan said.
“The estimate is every $1000 spent controlling locusts you save at least $20,000 worth of crops.”
The state government has budgeted $18.5 million to fight the plague.
“The most critical thing is that landholders and farmers need to be on the lookout and tell us when the locusts are hatching,” Mr Whan said.
Hatching sightings should be reported to the Livestock Health and Pest Authority.
bevan.shields@ruralpress.com
