We seem to have major issues with the termite infestation it seems. Assistant Minister for the Office of the Prime Minister Sakiusa Tubuna says termite infestation in Fiji has reached ‘crisis’ stage.
He claimed the spread of termites over the past 16 years was because of the lack of government action and attention.
He said this during the Termites Taskforce Meeting at the Office of the Prime Minister last week.
“We are in a crisis,” he stressed. “This enemy has caused millions of dollars in damage and is continuing to impact many Fijian families and businesses. I witnessed first-hand the devastation of this imported pest during my visit to Lautoka and the West last month. Around 150 termite infested properties have been identified in Lautoka,” Mr Tubuna said.
Biosecurity Authority of Fiji (BAF) CEO Michael Bartlett has described termite infestation in Fiji as “scary”.
He made this comment during the opening of the meeting last Friday. BAF, he said, commissioned world leading expert on Asian Subterranean Termite (AST), Dr Theo Evans from Australia to do a comprehensive analysis of the situation of AST in Fiji.
“We looked at two models, the prevention and eradication model. The prevention model is basically business as usual. If we carry on now the way we’re doing, the economic modellers in Perth believe that we could be looking at $3 billion worth of losses by 2060 in terms of infrastructure, businesses, and loss of property on Viti Levu,” he said.
“On Vanua Levu you’re looking at $620m in losses.”
Fiji could be looking at a $3.6b estimate if nothing was done. While there was a possibility to eradicate AST in circa 10 years, there was a need for a high-level of efficacy for detection and this, he said, comes down to ability on the number of people working on the ground.
It would effectively cost about $1.64b in 10 years to facilitate hundreds of staff to do the work.
So what we have staring back at us is a situation which will inch out many questions. What happened? How did we get to this stage?
And while we now realise the extent of our challenges, do we have the will and the capacity and resources to effectively deal with this? Did we do enough to fight it over the past 10 years or so or did we neglect this issue?
Clearly there has to be great awareness and preventative measures put in place.
Mr Bartlett said about 10,000 to 20,000 call outs were made to BAF from 2019 to date regarding the AST.
We will look up to the powers that be to put in place appropriate measures to fight this, and bring some relief to hundreds of families affected by infestation.
