Government Varroa strategy not good enough warns UC expert

Published by the Communications and Development Department

 

8 September 2004

 

 

A University of Canterbury entomologist is warning that the Varroa pest management strategy approved by the Agriculture Minister, Jim Sutton, yesterday may be good in the short-term, but long-term will not keep the destructive mite out of the South Island.

 

The strategy, designed to keep the South Island Varroa-free, incorporates inter-island movement controls on beekeeping materials, public education measures and a South Island surveillance programme.

Dr Raphael Didham, of Canterbury University’s biological sciences department, believes the strategy is not enough and says there is a desperate need for significant research into Varroa.

 

He believes one such approach would be to develop Varroa-tolerant honeybee strains and is calling on the honey industry to subsidise research work.

“My point is that the time to build that research capacity is now, not once the incursion into the South Island has already occurred.

 

“We have a clear choice to make between a totalitarian control approach centred on chemical and mechanical control, that overseas experience tells us will not work in the long run, versus an integrated management approach centred on research. We have to accept that Varroa is here forever.”

 

 

For further information please contact:

Dr Raphael Didham
03 364 2987 ext. 987
raphael.didham@canterbury.ac.nz