The municipality began increased protection against ragweed in early June. Deputy Mayor Ákos Balázs, the head of the simulator department of PHARMAFLIGHT and Tamás Pethe, the managing director of DEKERT, reported on the results achieved so far at Wednesday’s press conference.
The municipality of Debrecen will do its utmost to eradicate ragweed. Last year, we put urban management on a new footing. One of the most important parts of this was that we created the ragweed commando within DEKERT, who would start eradicating the ragweed immediately after the alarm. We monitor the extent of ragweed infestation in an innovative way in the city and on the outskirts. DEKERT manages and maintains a total area of more than 2 million square meters, of which almost 450 thousand square meters is municipal property or construction area and more than 1 million 580 thousand square meters is green space, said Deputy Mayor Ákos Balázs.
The deputy mayor emphasized that thanks to last year’s defense and the more favorable weather conditions, there is now less ragweed in Debrecen compared to the previous year. We found contaminated areas on almost 533 thousand square meters, which were mowed, added Ákos Balázs.
This year, we further developed the machine park and acquired five high-performance lawn tractors. We also try to pay attention to sustainability, so a vehicle is already fully electric. The five vehicles can mow almost 50,000 square meters a day – said Ákos Balázs.
We monitor municipal areas, but we ask the public if ragweed is detected, either in a municipal or private area, to report it to the municipality. If it is a municipal area, it will be mowed by our staff within 24 hours, and in the case of a report from a non-municipal area, our colleagues will forward it to the Government Office, the deputy mayor emphasized.
Thanks to the continuous work of the ragweed commando, with drone monitoring, the decommissioning work can begin as soon as possible, thus continuously reducing the pollen load in the city. In order to reduce the amount of hotel dust, the municipality will increase the number of green areas, dust the roads and start the reforestation at the Vértessy mansion this year.
With the rise of unmanned aerial vehicles, a new direction of research and development has been launched within the company, with the aim of integrating the use of new technological solutions to modernize existing tasks. Part of this project is the ragweed survey launched jointly with the municipality of Debrecen. The surveys provide more up-to-date information on the pollution status of the areas, thus keeping the concentration of ragweed pollen in the city at a lower level. Software testing and development is ongoing. Our goal is to create a fully automated survey and evaluation system in the coming years – highlighted Richárd Hidvégi, head of the simulator department of PHARMAFLIGHT International Science and Service Center Ltd.
The team of ragweed commando consisting of 3×5 people – who are the employees of DEKERT Nonprofit Kft. – will march to the given area with full equipment, lawn mower and lawn tractor after the announcement.
We used to have machines suitable for large-scale mowing, but today’s new machines also include locomotives, which makes the job easier, as they can also cut areas for which older machines are not suitable. And working with an electric tractor is much quieter, so it does not disturb the peace of the families resting in Nagyerdő – emphasized Tamás Pethe, the managing director of DEKERT Nonprofit Kft.
If someone sees ragweed, they can make a comment at the Green Area Department of the Mayor’s Office by phone at 06 (52) 511-530 during working hours or by e-mail at zoldterulet@ph.debrecen.hu.
Debrecen City Hall Press
