Beating the bugs : protecting Victoria’s economically significant crops from pests and diseases
Overview
This audit examines how well Victoria’s Department of Primary Industries protects our economic crops from plant pests and diseases. In today’s busy world where global travel and trade are a part of everyday life, we must be increasingly on the watch against unwanted pests and diseases. Victoria’s clean and green reputation is an important economic asset well worth guarding. At the same time, trading agreements increasingly demand that quarantine and other barriers to trade be based on good science. Victoria’s plant-based industries contribute over $3 200 million annually to the state’s economy. To maintain markets, and to develop new ones, our growers must be able to produce quality product that is free of pests and diseases. Crop protection activities carried out by the department cost about one-tenth of one per cent of the contribution that these industries make to the state economy.