Pineapple farmers in the Eastern Highlands of Papua New Guinea are under attack by bandicoots, and they are not happy about it.
Thomas Yasi from Magitu Samogo village in Bena has been growing pineapples for three years, but frequent bandicoot attacks affect his daily income. In a space of two to three months, Mr Yasi harvests around 3000 pineapples and around 20 per cent of the harvest is eaten up by the terrestrial marsupial omnivore that commonly inhabits the grassland vegetation of Australia and PNG.
'When the bandicoots eat our pineapples, we don't bring them to the market and we just let them eat up the fruit back at the farm," Mr. Yasi said. 'This problem with bandicoots is not only faced by me but other farmers who plant pineapples also experience the attacks from these animals.
'We farmers will be very happy if agriculture agencies can help us with traps or medicines that will help manage the bandicoot attacks. "On the other hand, bandicoot is a good protein as well and at times we think that its' good for them to eat some of our pineapples, but the bad side of it is when they affect our produce which we plan to sell at the markets.
Source: postcourier.com.pg