Since 2019, around 350 staff were employed at the peak of the response to eradicate the pest, visiting nearly 200,000 properties and releasing nearly 700 million sterile flies.
Basham said the government had spent more than $70m on its campaign to protect the horticultural industry.
“The two-year battle has seen dedicated orange overall-wearing fruit fly officers going door-to-door right across metropolitan Adelaide undertaking baiting and checking fruit,” he said.
“By working together as a community, we have protected our local $1.3 billion xjmtzywfresh fruit industry vulnerable to fruit fly and the thousands of jobs the sector supports.
