Concerns over importing pesticides without guidelines

FARMERS cannot import pesticides without consulting the authorities because there will be setbacks if they do not get proper guidelines, an official says.
The general manager of the National Agriculture Quarantine Inspection Authority (Naqia) technical and advisory division David Tenakanai said farmers could easily develop and adopt fall armyworms (FAW) through importing pesticides.
“Without getting proper guidelines in accordance with Naqia and the Conservation and Environment Protection Authority (Cepa), these imported pesticides can develop FAW,” he said.
“We are assuming that FAW is already widespread in the country because the adult moth of the pest can move hundreds of kilometres in one night and once assisted by the wind, it can go further.”
Tenakanai said a delimiting survey scheduled by Naqia would not cover the whole of Papua New Guinea but only those provinces that were badly affected.
“The survey will only target locations where crops like sugarcane, corn and rice are grown and are targeted by FAW,” he said. “The FAW primary choice of food are grass vegetables like corn, rice, and pit pit but once these crops are depleted they can jump over to other crops.”
Tenakanai said the spread of the pest was due to the little or no attention paid to it as the limited resources available were focused on the recent outbreak of the African swine flu.
“Our teams were sent to Daru when the Australian quarantine notified us and we detected FAW in corn but we also want to find out if there are other natural enemies,” he said.
“We will advise the provincial governments after our investigations so that the provincial departments of agriculture and livestock can work with us to carry out awareness.”