Not only bees, but also ants! When will the Government address the problem caused by improper spraying of pesticides in betel nut plantations?

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(by upstream and downstream reporters Cai Jiashan and Lin Xiejun / tr. by Robert Taylor)

There are frequent cases of honeybee poisoning in Nantou Puli, and the main culprit is the spraying of pesticides in betel nut orchards, especially the forbidden drug fenpril is the most toxic to bees. Experts point out that glass ants have been rampant in the mountainous areas of Nantou and Chiayi in recent years, and the residents are unbearably disturbed, which is also related to the improper spraying of pesticides in Betelang Garden. Because ants will symbiosis with aphids and pink beetles, and these insects will harm betel nuts, betel nut orchards wantonly use drugs to control ants, but may mistakenly kill bees, and the damage to ants is becoming more and more serious.

In recent years, due to climate change, there has been an increase in diseases and insect pests. Betel nut farmers admit that they must use a variety of pesticides at once, and the use of drugs depends on the recommendation of the boss of the pesticide industry and "their own try." The government has been ignoring the use of betel nut medicine for many years, and the result is that pesticides are sprayed all over the place, or even banned drugs are used, causing harm to innocent ecology, and diseases and insect pests have not been solved.

Miao changed the field to investigate and confirmed that fenpril was the culprit of acute bee poisoning.

According to the paper of the Symposium on Honeybee and Bee products in 107 "Analysis of Acute Bee poisoning in Taiwan", the agricultural improvement farm in Miaoli District investigated the cases of honeybee poisoning from 105 to 106 years. It was confirmed that the most common pesticide causing honeybee poisoning was fenbuprofen, followed by Fuhuali, followed by Taosong, Gaboli and Demenin. After further analysis, it was found that the main sources of flowering plants were litchi and betel nut.

It is speculated that the reason is that a large number of litchi stink bugs occurred in the flowering period of litchi in recent years, and farmers used drugs illegally. Betel nut is also a growing number of diseases and insect pests, but there is no recommended drug, and there is no sampling mechanism. All kinds of pesticides and the banned fenpril suspension are likely to be used on betel nut.

Photo source / "Analysis of acute poisoning patterns of honeybees in Taiwan." Proceedings of the 2018 Symposium on Bees and Bee products. Glass ants are rampant, related to spraying in betel nut orchards.

In the past three years, the damage to ants in the mountainous areas of Nantou and Chiayi has been serious. An army of ants has spread over agricultural gardens and invaded homes. Lin Zongqi, an ant expert at the Department of Biology at Changhua normal University, points out that the main harmful species are wart-breasted glass ants and brown flat glass ants. "the more serious places have something to do with betel nut orchards."

Glass ants are indeed the strongholds of betel nut in mountain areas such as Guolan Township in Nantou County and Zhongpu Township in Chiayi County. Lin Zongqi said, "because betel nut can handle chemicals, it will completely make the ants look simple, kill the ants that were originally on the ground, and let these rapidly expanding glass ants occupy the territory."

Because ants symbiosis with aphids and mealworms, these insects secrete honeydew to feed ants, while nibbling on crops, the young flower ears of betel nut are also harmed. This is probably one of the main reasons for the aggravation of spraying in betel nut orchards in recent years.

Wart-breasted glass ants have done serious harm in recent years (photo source / Xu Fengquan) Betelnut orchard spray, butterflies, bees, fireflies all suffer

A resident owner of Yuchi Township in Nantou has a headache. There are glass ants in the house, and the betel nut orchard near the house has recently been heavily sprinkled, and guests complain repeatedly. He found that every time the betel nut orchard was sprayed, a pile of struggling or dead butterflies, bees and other insects could be swept to the ground half an hour later. And bees slamming into the glass, like getting lost.

"when the firefly season came, the firefly event was like a May Day concert, but now it's all gone." He asked angrily that eco-tourism is the highlight of tourism in Yuchi Township, but if there is a serious ecological imbalance and the stench of pesticides is everywhere, will the guests still come?

Spray situation of betel nut orchard (photo provided / host) misuse of fenbuprofen, killing bees instead of killing ants

With the increase in diseases and insect pests, farmers' response is to use heavier drugs. Fenpril happens to be a powerful ant medicine, and it is no problem to deal with other pests. Although 4.95% of water suspensions have been banned, illegal use still exists, judging from the 60% of bee poisoning deaths over the years.

Betel nut farmers may also use the unbanned fenpril form to control ants. The reporter bought 0.3% of the fenpril granule (only for rice and corn) at the Nantou Pesticide Bank, and the boss explained that sprinkling the granule on the head of the betel nut tree could prevent Sautéed Vermicelli with Spicy Minced Pork.

However, Lin Zongqi pointed out that this method of prevention and control is so wrong that it will be completely ineffective. "the concentration of 0.3% granule is too high for killing ants!" He explained that 0.0143% granules are currently allowed to be used in the control of red fire ants, with a concentration difference of 30 times. "the purpose of this drug is to let ants come into contact with other individuals and spread it, rather than die immediately, so it can't be too toxic." On the other hand, at the concentration of 0.3%, the ant dies as soon as it meets it, and it is impossible to achieve the effect of killing ants in a chain at all. it is completely the wrong drug.

Lin Zongqi also explained that this high concentration of fenpril granules can cause harm to bees without being dissolved in water. "there must be water vapor in the environment, and bees will die if they touch it."

Betel nut has a demand for medicine, and farmers are at a loss as to how to "try themselves".

Betel nut has no official advice at all, so farmers can only rely on the recommendation of pesticide companies, or learn from mistakes on the basis of their own and peer experience. From the confession of the betel nut farmer in Nantou, we can see the disorder in the use of betel nut medicine.

"Betelnut is really hard to take care of now! In the past, without spraying, a hundred betel nut flowers could grow into a hundred young girls, but now half of them are good, and in some places there are only ten left. "

The betel nut farmer says that in recent years, warm winters and less rain, coupled with air pollution and fog, have increased diseases and insect pests. "there are weevil, hanging silk larvae (moth larvae), and a kind of black ants." How to prevent and cure? "We all use Taosong and imentine for weevil bugs, and we use Capauli for hanging wires, and we also use Yida amine to deal with other problems."

"We all know the same truth: buying ineffective medicine is more serious than not spraying it. Because if this medicine doesn't work, and then you spray it, you will think that the crop has been protected and should no longer be taken care of. "in fact, diseases and insect pests still erode, and there is no harvest in the end.

"usually we are a kind of pest with one medicine and sometimes two drugs, and at least five drugs are sprayed at a time. The boss often recommends us to use more than one medicine at a time, so we are not afraid of being ineffective, "he adds. In addition to exchanging among the industry which drug companies sell more effectively, they also want to" try themselves. "

There is an urgent need to investigate the use of betel nut. A dead bee can detect up to 18 pesticides.

As a result, bees became victims of betel nut pesticide experiments. The Taosong and Capauli used by this betel nut farmer are often tested by poisoned dead bees, while Yida amine will cause bees to get lost.

According to the paper published by Miao Gaochang, the highest number of pesticides detected in a single sample of dead bees was 18, with an average of 5. It shows that farmers' knowledge of drug use urgently needs to be strengthened, and the unregulated betel nut orchard of more than 40,000 hectares needs the authorities to put forward specific prevention and control measures not to harm bees as soon as possible.

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