Lychee stink bugs, which react by spraying a foul-smelling and corrosive liquid when disturbed, are emerging in large numbers to breed, officials said on Monday last week, advising the public to be cautious.
The shield-shaped, yellow-brown bugs feed on the nectar from lychee or longan flowers, researchers from the Council of Agriculture’s Kaohsiung District Agricultural Improvement Station said.
During the mating season from March to May, the sheer number of stink bugs feeding on fruit trees could cause their flowers to wilt, and could lead to significant losses in the quality and quantity of fruit harvests, they said.
The bugs prefer to lay eggs on the back of leaves and sometimes on clothing that is left outdoors, the researchers added.
People should not approach or swat a stink bug with their bare hands, as the liquid released by the bug causes painful sores, they said.
Instead, people should use a stick to knock on the part of the branch above the bug and herd it into a plastic bag before disposing of it, they said.
Farmers are advised to apply chlorpyrifos or cyhalothrin-based solutions on their fruit trees to mitigate the damage, they said.
To combat the bugs, the Council of Agriculture and its academic partners have introduced the stink bug’s natural enemy, the parasitic wasp Anastatus japonicus, the researchers said.
Changhua County Department of Agriculture officials last week released 50,000 of the wasps in a bid to reduce stink bug numbers, as they have since last year been causing significant agricultural damage in the county and blistering farmers, they said.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing
Nearly 5 million people have signed up to receive the government’s NT$10,000 (US$322) universal cash handout since registration opened on Wednesday last week, with deposits expected to begin tomorrow, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. After a staggered sign-up last week — based on the final digit of the applicant’s national ID or Alien Resident Certificate number — online registration is open to all eligible Taiwanese nationals, foreign permanent residents and spouses of Taiwanese nationals. Banks are expected to start issuing deposits from 6pm today, the ministry said. Those who completed registration by yesterday are expected to receive their NT$10,000 tomorrow, National Treasury
A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck Kaohsiung at 1pm today, the Central Weather Administration said. The epicenter was in Jiasian District (甲仙), 72.1km north-northeast of Kaohsiung City Hall, at a depth of 7.8km, agency data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effects of a temblor, was highest in Kaohsiung and Tainan, where it measured a 4 on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale. It also measured a 3 in parts of Chiayi City, as well as Pingtung, Yunlin and Hualien counties, data showed.
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