NSW Farmers say the out-of-control mouse plague will cut the value of the state s winter crop by one billion dollars as the eight-month long scourge continues to worsen.
NSW Farmers Vice President Xavier Martin says there are serious concerns around the secondary toxicity of the poison which the New South Wales government is proposing to use to tackle the state's mouse plague.
Mr Martin also told Sky News the chemical bromadiolone - which is yet to be approved by the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority - is slow to take effect.
“At the moment farmers are racing to try and get 6 million hectares of winter crop in the ground and we’re spreading 70 tonnes of zinc phosphide a day,” he said.
“That product kills a mouse within about an hour or less . it turns into a gas in their gut within a day.
“The problem with the minister’s product is it takes seven days to kill - in which case they can easily wipe out an emerging canola crop in a couple of nights - but worse than that the toxicity in the carcass remains for 100 to 200 days.
“So therein lies the product for … farm dogs, pigs, poultry, let alone the raptors
Farmers say the NSW government's $50 million package to help farmers fight the ever worsening mouse plague is "impractical, dysfunctional and weeks away".
The mouse plague ravaging regional New South Wales has left one family homeless after the rodents chewed through the electrical wiring in their house - sparking a devastating fire.
NSW Farmers Vice President Xavier Martin told Sky News the mice are in “full plague proportions” and are on their way to Sydney.
“You mentioned the damage to assets, to houses, we’re seeing tractors burnt to the ground, we’re seeing vehicles damaged, people bitten in their beds at night, in hospital … you know this is a serious plague,” he said.
Mr Martin said the state government’s announcement of $50 million in funding and the recognition that the plague was a “national disaster” were welcome but swifter action was required.
“We’ve got a great theory presented out there by Minister Marshall and the Berejiklian-Barilaro government,” he said.
“It’s announced, the $50 million, and we had a press release a day last week from the minister and then he’s disappeared without