‘Beggars belief’: No govt-funded plan to stop rats tearing through NQ cane
Rats are laying waste to hundreds of thousands of tonnes of sugar cane but there’s no plan to implement a government-funded pest management program. See what the Minister said.
Townsville
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There is no state government plan or funds to manage swarms of rats feasting on sugar cane in the Herbert River region.
The state’s Agriculture Minister Mark Furner said overarching regional baiting permits have been issued, but canegrowers said rats have dug in and colonised - setting up for further destruction next year.
Hinchinbrook MP Nick Dametto said he cannot see why government financial support can’t be dished out again.
Lots of unharvested standover crops and four years without a rat-killing flood means the pests are running wild in the farms around Ingham.
The plague of rodents have also renewed concerns about Weil’s disease, which recently hospitalised one man, and requires antibiotics to treat it.
Mr Furner said damage mitigation permits had been issued to sugarcane sector peak bodies, meaning rat bait could be used without the need for individual applications.
“With a solution available to growers, and additional actions that can be undertaken as part of an integrated pest management plan, there is currently no plan to implement a government funded pest management program for rats,” the minister said.
“It is noted that further winter rains are forecast. If this contributes to a second year of standover cane, this may create conditions favourable for increased rat populations.”
“The Queensland Government will continue to monitor the situation and any impacts to sugarcane crops.”
Mr Dametto said: “The fact that the minister acknowledged the existence of a very serious problem and identified there is potential for it to get worse, but still opted to do nothing simply beggars belief”.
Both the Queensland and New South Wales governments had offered financial support for baiting programs, he said.
“If it’s been done in the past, I don’t see why it can’t be done again,” Mr Dametto said.
Herbert Cane Productivity Services Limited manager Lawrence Di Bella said the industry expected to lose more than 100,000 tonnes of cane this year which amounted to a $5m loss.
“This is the worst impacted year I have seen in my 30-plus years working in the Herbert cane growing region,” Mr Di Bella said.
The baiting approvals which had been granted could not tackle the cost and magnitude of the infestation, he said.
“Farmers are not asking for a handout; they are just asking for some assistance to manage a pest that knows no property boundaries.”
Originally published as ‘Beggars belief’: No govt-funded plan to stop rats tearing through NQ cane
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