No herbicide used to rid killer weed in populated areas

PETALING JAYA: The Department of Agriculture will not be spraying herbicides, including the chemical atrazine, in populated areas to get rid of the toxic invasive weed Parthenium hysterophorus.

Plant Biosecurity Division director Faridah Aini Muhammad told The Star that atrazine, which has been criticised by Pesticide Action Network Asia and Pacific (Panap) due to its potential to linger in groundwater, was only used in unpopulated areas.

“We spray a herbicide mix of atrazine, glyphosate and metribuzin in no-man’s land. If the weed is found around homes or business premises, we use manual methods (pulling it out by hand) or spray it with a salt water solution,” she said.

Faridah also said the recently discovered P. hysterophorus infestation in Kampung Tunku, Petaling Jaya, had been tackled.

“We sprayed weedkiller at the cemeteries that were affected,” she said.

The weed has also been discovered in Ranau, Sabah, bringing the total number of affected states to nine.

The others were Selangor, Negri Sembilan, Malacca, Johor, Perak, Kedah, Perlis and Penang.

In just five days, reports of P. hystero­phorus have flooded the Department of Agriculture.

Statistics showed that 35.6ha of land was infested nationwide, a seven-fold jump from 4.8ha in the early days.

Faridah told The Star that a task force had been set up to search for biological agents that suppress the weed and that they hope to see results by next year.

“By March, we hope to have a variety of methods at our disposal, including biological agents,” she said.

It is believed that P. hysterophorus, sometimes referred to as congress grass or Santa Maria feverfew, was transported to Malaysia via imported livestock.