LOCAL GOVT. SUBSIDISES PESTICIDE AGAINST LYCHEE STINK BUG|荔枝開花季到 椿象大量繁殖農民頭痛

It's the season for lychee blossoms, and recently the insect known as the lychee stink bug, was found to have multiplied in the Taichung area which is having an impact on the harvest. These are lychee leaves, when the farmer turns them over, there are hundreds of eggs laid by tessaratoma papillosa, stink bugs. ==CHEN PING-HO farmer == One adult stink bug can lay nine batches of eggs. Think about it, they can lay so many eggs. See this small pile? It has nearly one hundred eggs. Bugs' eggs are everywhere in the farm, March and April is the breeding season for stink bugs. Farmers worry about the rapid mass breeding. The farmers have sprayed a lot of pesticide, but effects are limited. ==YANG AH-TIEN Agricultural Affairs, Taiping Farmers' Assn.== Basically we spray four to five times a year, now it is increased to eight or nine times a year. Look at this, let's not calculate the money for buying pesticide, we can't even cover the labor costs. == CHEN REN-KUEI Taiping Litchi Production and Sales Group== The most important thing is releasing of the anastatus wasp which targets pests' eggs. Two releases were not successful. We were looking for areas that have not used pesticides, as we used pesticide at some places. Maybe the wasps are sensitive to chemicals, and the chemicals are worse than the stink bug. Taichung Agriculture Bureau said, they are subsidizing farmers with NT$500 per hectare for pesticide costs. At the same time they are continuing to release the wasps which are specially bred to target pests' eggs and will observe the effects on the ecology. TRANSLATED BY：ANTHONY LIN 即將進入荔枝開花季節，不過最近荔枝椿象大量繁殖， 讓農民相當苦惱，因為嚴重影響產量，目前主要受害地區，在台中太平，農民說雖然有噴藥防治， 不過效果有限，因為附近有不少果園廢耕，成為防疫一大漏洞。 拿著隨手拔下的荔枝葉， 農民越看越擔心， 因為葉子的後方， 全都是一排一排， 荔枝椿象的卵， 數量多到驚人。 ==農民 陳平和== 一隻成蟲 有辦法產卵九次 你想看看 繁殖這樣多驚人 只有這麼一小欉喔 大約將近一百顆(卵)吧 實際來到果園，這樣的景象到處都是，每年的三四月是荔枝椿像大量繁殖的時候，最讓農民頭痛的，是牠們的繁殖力，一年繁殖好幾次，才會快速蔓延，當地農民雖然積極噴藥防治，不過效果有限。 ==太平農會農事小組長 楊阿田== 一般我們噴藥 是四五遍(每年) 現在可能要增加到八九次 你看看 不要說農藥錢 只說工錢 你就划不來了 ==太平荔枝產銷班第六班長 陳仁貴== 最重要的 是(平腹小蜂)野放程序 野放兩次沒成功 就是我們在找沒防治(噴藥)的點 因為之前 是都有防治(噴藥) 牠大概是對化學藥劑敏感度 比椿象還要厲害(才不成功) 農業局表示，目前除了補助果農一公頃500元的噴藥成本，也配合野放寄生蜂，希望用生物防治的方法控制數量，但成效仍有待評估。 記者 林健生 台中報導