Fiji needs expertise, skills to eliminate swarming termites

Lautoka residents are facing the full brunt of the termite infestation as houses continued to be overwhelmed with these pests which travel in swarms when they come out in the evenings.

Last Friday a family escaped injuries when the roof of their house collapsed.

The Asian Subterranean Termite (AST) (Coptotermes gestroi) originated from South East Asia and is also an important structural pest reported from the Pacific islands, North America, Caribbean islands, South America, and Indian Ocean islands.

A Biosecurity of Fiji report noted that according to the Fijian Forestry Department, Fiji has 13 species of termites.

In 2010, a Queensland forestry entomologist (consulting to the Fijian Government) confirmed the identity of the invasive species causing the massive damage to wooden structures (houses) and crops in Lautoka.

AST poses a potentially significant social, economic and biosecurity risk in Fiji.

It was first discovered and reported to Biosecurity Authority of Fiji (BAF) in Fiji in late 2009 at Lautoka and then later discovered in Labasa after a Fiji wide awareness campaign.

It is assumed at this stage that the AST might have entered Fiji through infested wooden packaging materials (crates and pellets) from the Asian countries.

The extent of damage to infrastructure strongly suggests that AST was introduced to Fiji about 20 to 30 years ago and slowly has built up its numbers over these years to a visibly destructive stage now.

Drastic measures need to be taken now for the collapsing of a roof of a home in the wee hours of the morning when everyone was asleep is indeed frightening. The termites usually come out of their nesting, some out of the earth around 6pm at certain times during the year.

This is when their destruction begins as they attack homes and eat their way through the timber.

At night when all is quiet these insects could be heard by a crackling sound as it goes about its business.

Residents have been told to switch off all lights and light fires but are these measures enough. Damages caused by the termites include structural timbers, wooden goods (furniture and fittings), paper (books and documents), cotton cloth, cotton garments, certain plastics, trees (living and dead) and many crops (sugarcane, pine, mango, cassava and coconut trees) throughout the world.

Do we have the right skills and know-how to combat and control these pests?

Solutions must be sought quickly.

For if they had taken so many years to build up and the destruction around Lautoka is becoming more evident then the future of homes certainly look insecure. Surely there must be ways in identifying where their nests are.

They look small but in swarms, homes are now feeling the full brunt of their destructive powers.