This week, millions of sterile fruit flies in Queensland will be released at test sites in western New South Wales and northern Victoria. In this way, Australian scientists strengthen their defenses to prevent one of the most destructive pests in the country from hitting garden crops.

The country has invested 60 million in SITPlus in New South Wales and Victoria after successfully launching barren fruit flies in Queensland in South Australia last year.

“Until 2020, about 2 million sterilized fruit flies are released from each pilot on a custom-made aircraft every week,” said Professor Phil Taylor, Director of Innovation at the Brosafety Center at ARC Drosophila University.

Insular Queensland Fruit Fly

Dan Ryan, director of the SITPlus project at Hort Innovation, said Queensland fruit flies caused US $ 300 million in product and market losses nationwide, and SITPlus is working to turn the tide. “The Insular Queensland Fruit Fly Production Center in Port August is fully operational, producing 20 million fruit flies per week,” he said.

Mr. Ryan said the country's leading scientists have spent countless hours of research to ensure that sterilized fruit flies are healthy and attractive to local fruit flies, thereby promoting mating but not producing offspring.

The project is supported by taxation and related funding from the Australian Government, including Hort Innovation, Macquarie University, University of Western Sydney, South Australia, Victoria, Tasmania and New South Wales, CSIRO, Plant and Food Research Institute, and a number of industries in gardening taxation.