Choosing the battles: The economics of area wide pest management for Queensland fruit fly

" Surely the best way to meet the enemy is head on in the field and not wait till they plunder our very homes" Oliver Goldsmith (1730-1774).Area-wide management (AWM) of crop pests is an alternative strategy for pest control to reliance on the uncoordinated control decisions of farmers. Relative to uncoordinated pest control, AWM has been shown to be cost-effective and, by reducing pesticide use, environmentally beneficial. The fact that AWM schemes provide imperfect public goods and are prone to free-riding means that most successful schemes depend on government funding, regulation, coordination and management. The economics of AWM concerns the economics of information and time in complex bioeconomic settings. This paper explores the economics of AWM in relation to Queensland fruit fly (Qfly), Bactrocera tryoni (Frogatt), a damaging pest and a major barrier to Australian trade in horticultural produce. We analyse the economics of roadblocks, surveillance and eradication. The results show that returns from tighter roadblocks are greater than returns from increased surveillance and enhanced eradication capacity. These results depend on market access rules, the spatial extent of the pest free area, the horticultural commodities at risk, and pest ecology. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd.