The National Red Fire Ant Control Center officially started operations yesterday. Agriculture Minister Lee Ching-lung (李金龍) said that the situation has been brought under control and that the ants would be eradicated within three years.
At the center's opening ceremony in Taipei yesterday, Lee said that 21 townships and 49 schools have been affected by the invasion of South American red fire ants, which have appeared in both agricultural and urban areas.
"The government is ready to distribute 20,000kg of chemicals to fight the red fire ants. People should be smart enough not to turn over the soil in affected agricultural areas, because it might worsen the invasion," Lee said.
The center integrated epidemic control units at all levels to effectively handle the problem, and the Council of Agriculture will provide the center with resources to eradicate the species in Taiwan within three years, Lee said.
Taiwan is the fourth country to be invaded by the aggressive ant species. The fire ant is a serious pest which has invaded the US, New Zealand and Australia.
Lee said yesterday that he appreciated the idea of freezing the ants in liquid nitrogen, which was recently proposed by scientists at the Academia Sinica.
The center, headed by Yang Ping-shih (楊平世), a professor of entomology at National Taiwan University, will first adopt methods that have been used in the US and Australia. According to Yang, the species has troubled the US for more than seven decades, and Australia for three years.
Taoyuan, Taipei and Chiayi counties have been worst hit. Officials said yesterday that techniques to stamp out the ants will be demonstrated soon on the campus of National Taipei University in Sansia, Taipei County, to train more workers. Similar workshops have already been held in two seriously affected townships in Chiayi County.
Council of Agriculture officials said color codes will be established to classify the seriousness of the ant problem across the nation, with red indicating the ants have been discovered but no action has been taken; yellow indicating that ants are currently being exterminated; and green indicating that the ants have been eliminated.
Officials stressed yesterday that the seriousness of the ant invasion should not be ignored. The ants last month devastated electric cables supplying the reservoir at Shihmen Dam in Taoyuan County.
At the opening ceremony, Ketagalan Academy president Lee Hung-hsi (
"We've successfully halted the spread of SARS. Now it's just another chance for Taiwan to demonstrate its achievement of biological control," Lee Hung-hsi said.
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck off the coast of Hualien County in eastern Taiwan at 7pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter of the temblor was at sea, about 69.9km south of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 30.9km, it said. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County’s Changbin Township (長濱), where it measured 5 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 4 in Hualien, Nantou, Chiayi, Yunlin, Changhua and Miaoli counties, as well as
Credit departments of farmers’ and fishers’ associations blocked a total of more than NT$180 million (US$6.01 million) from being lost to scams last year, National Police Agency (NPA) data showed. The Agricultural Finance Agency (AFA) said last week that staff of farmers’ and fishers’ associations’ credit departments are required to implement fraud prevention measures when they serve clients at the counter. They would ask clients about personal financial management activities whenever they suspect there might be a fraud situation, and would immediately report the incident to local authorities, which would send police officers to the site to help, it said. NPA data showed
ENERGY RESILIENCE: Although Alaska is open for investments, Taiwan is sourcing its gas from the Middle East, and the sea routes carry risks, Ho Cheng-hui said US government officials’ high-profile reception of a Taiwanese representative at the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference indicated the emergence of an Indo-Pacific energy resilience alliance, an academic said. Presidential Office Secretary-General Pan Men-an (潘孟安) attended the conference in Alaska on Thursday last week at the invitation of the US government. Pan visited oil and gas facilities with senior US officials, including US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy and US Senator Daniel Sullivan. Pan attending the conference on behalf of President William Lai (賴清德) shows a significant elevation in diplomatic representation,
The Taipei MRT is to begin accepting mobile payment services in the fall, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said on Saturday. When the company finishes the installation of new payment units at ticketing gates in October, MRT passengers can use credit cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay, the operator said. In addition, the MRT would also provide QR payment codes — which would be compatible with Line Pay, Jkopay, iPass Money, PXPay Plus, EasyWallet, iCash Pay, Taiwan Pay and Taishin Pay — to access the railway system. Currently, passengers can access the Taipei MRT by buying a single-journey token or using EasyCard,
RSS