Canberra [Australia], October 23: The Australian government has committed funding to prevent the spread of invasive fire ants across the country.
Murray Watt, the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, and the Minister for Emergency Management, and Treasurer Jim Chalmers on Sunday announced the federal government will invest an additional 268 million Australian dollars (169 million U.S. dollars) over the next four years in the National Fire Ant Eradication Program.
The red imported fire ant is a species native to South America that has spread to several countries including Australia, China and the United States where they pose a significant threat to agricultural assets as well as people.
The species was first detected in Australia in the north-eastern state of Queensland in 2001 and was in 2014 found in Sydney for the first time.
Watt and Chalmers said in a joint statement that fire ants have the potential to spread across 97 percent of Australia and cause 1.25 billion Australian dollars (789 million U.S. dollars) in economic damage every year.
If not for the eradication program, which was established in 2001, Chalmers said the invasive species would already infest 100 million hectares of land from Queensland to Canberra.
"Fire ants are a threat to our community, our economy and our kids and that's why we're doing everything we can to eradicate this pest," he said in the joint statement.
The additional funding will expand the eradication program to add 350 new workers, new aerial eradication programs and double the size of the treatment and surveillance area, including high-density residential areas in Queensland.
"This investment demonstrates our strong commitment to eradicate red imported fire ants from our shores," Watt said.
Source: Xinhua
