The surprising science and commerce of pest control

Zia was reading a book while he waited for me. It was a book on the Liberation War. For a moment, I felt slightly confused because he did not quite look like a pest cleaner. 

A smiling face with tired but bright eyes, Zia Uddin, glanced at me and probably reading the obvious confusion on my face, he quipped, "I don't blame you. With a master's degree in philosophy even I sometimes cannot believe that I clean termites and cockroaches."

Over the next 90 minutes, Zia spoke about his profession, how he got into this business, his analysis of the current malpractices of fogging and urban construction, and also unsurprisingly, his study on pests and chemicals that kill them. 

Zia surfed through the pest-cleaning industry for a decade before opening his own company Noha pest control service in 2019. And over the course of the last 10 years, he participated in a number of training sessions on pest control and technical applications of pesticides. 

Currently, there are more than 50 pest control service companies in the capital like Zia's. I am sure you must have come across black cockroaches and pests drawn on the city walls, which are advertisements with contact numbers of pest control companies. 

These pest companies generally provide services to control bedbugs, termites, cockroaches, rodents and ants. Recently, a few companies are also dealing with mosquitos to prevent dengue. But according to the service providers, a number of the companies are uncertified. And they haven't even had proper safety training. 

The science is more exciting than you think

Every different kind of pest requires specific medicine. For example, Imidacloprid insecticide is used to kill bedbugs as it causes paralysis and eventual death to the insect, while Fipronil 0.05% gel is used to kill cockroaches. 

For mosquitos, it's Phostoxin aluminum phosphide tablets. And the science part of this job is the solution, or the medicine-soluble concentration. 

"Depending on the colony of the pest or how much they have bred or spread, the medicine solution differs. So in 10-litre water, the medicine concentration may vary from 5ml to 17ml," said Abdur Rouf, manager of United Pest Control. 
 
The cost primarily depends on the type of pest and size of the apartment. Moreover, different pests can be worked at a particular time of the day. 

For a standard apartment which is less than 2,000 sqft, the pest cleaners may charge Tk2,000 for cockroaches, ant and Tk2,500 for bedbugs, Tk3,000 for rodents and Tk3,500 for termites.

And for apartments and residences that are sized more than 2,000 sqft, the pricing is set per sqft. "For termites and bed bugs, it's Tk3 per sqft. And for cockroaches, the amount is Tk1 per sqft," said Rouf. 

Termites are the most dangerous ones and hence it takes more time to apply chemicals to them, said AJ Khan, the marketing officer of MCP Idea, another pest control service provider and a pest control training provider. That's why it takes five to six hours to exterminate termites, while the cockroach and bed bugs need a basic three to four hours of spraying or gel application, according to Khan.   

'We are frequently hired by restaurants and hotels'

We reached out to Adda, a restaurant franchise in Dhanmondi. On condition of anonymity, one of their employees said that they need to call the pest cleaners every two or three months. After the restaurant is closed at night, the pest cleaner arrives and sprays cleaning medicine so that it works over the night, and the next day the premises is ready for work. 

"The reason hotels and restaurants frequently need pest control services is that they buy groceries in bulk. And cockroaches stay in potato, onion sacks, in egg casings," explained Zia.

Then the most unbeatable ones - termites - who live down under the earth. They may appear anytime, especially during or after monsoon. So pest control experts suggest applying medicine every one or two years.  

"Pest control or prevention is highly neglected in our country. In the training, we were taught that pest-preventive medicines need to be applied, or the soil needs to be cured, before the construction of a building, because termite attacks [invasion] can lessen a building's lifespan by almost 20%. But unfortunately, these practices are not followed in Bangladesh," lamented Zia.

So while applying pesticides for termites, they spray both indoors and on the perimeter of the building. This way the building is protected for five to six years.  

Most pest cleaners are not properly trained or certified

"Most of the pest cleaners in the city don't have a proper license and proper idea on what they are working with," said AJ Khan, the marketing officer of MCP Idea, who pointed at the current dengue-preventive fumigation that we so often see around us now. When not done properly, it can be extremely dangerous, said Khan. 

"In training, we were taught that this [dengue-preventive fumigation] should be done in places that have no people around. But look around us, it's sprayed in public places," said Zia, owner of Noha Pest Control Service.   

Additionally, AJ Khan said it takes proper training to get into the business. "One has to handle toxic chemicals, so it's very crucial you know about safety gears and measures."

And then certification is an issue here. On condition of anonymity, one pest cleaner informed that one needs to have two licenses to start a pest control business, one from the city corporation and the other from the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE). 

"But it's a lengthy process. And four years ago when I was exhausting myself with frequent visits to the agriculture department, I saw a license-approving officer had a license of his own and in exchange for a certain percentage, he lent his license to some big companies to import chemicals and pesticides," he said.