News

Biting back against fruit flies

By Bree Lambert

Oct 7, 2026

Kyabram Lions Club members Paul Britnel, David Livsey, Tony Alford, David Luscombe and Goulburn Murray Valley regional fruit fly co-ordinator Ross Abberfield, at a recent public session held to educate and spread awareness about the threat of fruit flies in Kyabram. Photo by Supplied

It begins with a single fruit fly laying eggs in backyard produce and ends with an infestation threatening the Goulburn Murray Valley’s agricultural industry.

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Goulburn Murray Valley regional fruit fly co-ordinator Ross Abberfield describes the region as a “fruit salad” area, producing everything from stone fruit and citrus to pears, tomatoes and grapes.

With current hotspots in Kyabram and with spring being fruit fly breeding season, taking steps to help prevent the spread is crucial.

“Where fruit fly is unmanaged, particularly in urban areas, the populations expand and migrate from town backyards into commercial crops,” Mr Abberfield said.

“Not only does this devastate backyard produce, but it increases the financial burden on commercial growers ... reducing their profit margins and making it harder to produce and sell their fruit.”

Without enough funding, the success of regional fruit fly management has fallen on volunteer community groups, including the Kyabram Lions Club, which has become the town’s go-to source for fruit fly education, engagement and awareness.

“They take ownership and educate and engage their communities about fruit fly, and that’s where we’ve managed to get reductions of up to 95 per cent in fruit fly populations,” Mr Abberfield said.

For the past five years, the Lions Club volunteers have been biting back against fruit flies by selling traps and re-baiting existing traps to residents during the months of September, December and February.

Visitors to the club’s stall also receive informational packs, with seasonal management advice and instructions for making their own fruit fly trap.

Kyabram Lions Club member David Livsey said with most of the fruit flies coming from home gardens, it was up to the towns to keep fruit fly at bay and eradicate it.

“It’s not a fundraising effort for us, we make a dollar or two at most, but we try to keep it as cheap as possible for people,” Mr Livsey said.

“If fruit fly gets out and into our fruit industry, it will decimate it, and it’s nearly happened six years ago until I got this program going, and it’s actually stabilised it,” Kyabram Lions Club member Tony Alford said.

“But because of the lack of money, it’s actually starting to creep up again.”

Home garden owners can take steps to protect their produce from fruit fly by trapping and monitoring, netting and promptly picking fruit or vegetables and cleaning up fallen produce from the ground to eliminate breeding grounds.

The Kyabram Lions Club will host its next session to provide new traps and re-baiting in December, with more details to come.

The club is always welcoming new members wanting to assist with community projects. To join, contact the club by emailing kylions_sec@outlook.com.