Drought-stricken farmers in Queensland's central west are hoping a $500,000 State Government grant will help them control the scourge of feral pigs.

Around 24 million feral pigs are estimated to inhabit 40 per cent of the Australia, with the greatest concentrations found on drainage basins and swamp areas.

Graziers across much of Queensland have been struggling to control pig infestations through fencing, trapping, shooting and baiting.

The farmers have received the funding to combat feral pests as part the Everyone's Environment grants program.

Craig Alison from South West Natural Resource Management says feral pigs are causing severe environmental damage.

With much of inland Queensland suffering from drought conditions, Mr Alison says the dry weather is forcing native animals to compete with the pigs for water.

"Wild pigs and wild dogs are one of the biggest threats we have out here at the moment," he said.

"Seeing it's so dry all the feral pigs are retreating into some of the last remaining waterholes and so the total grazing pressure on those areas is extreme."

As well as destroying fences and crops the pigs attack native animals and can even re-route waterways by wallowing in mud.

"Most of the critical drought refuge areas are wetlands... lakes or isolated waterholes so you have a lot of native animals as well relying on those waterholes so they are being predated on," Mr Alison said.

"The pigs wallow in the river area so the fish don't like it."

Mr Alison says large boars can grow up to 120 kilograms.

The feral pig problem also stretches hundreds of kilometres further east, all the way to the north Queensland coastline.

The Whitsunday Regional Council has been granted $90,000 to shoot feral pigs from a helicopter in three areas, including wetlands surrounding Abbot Point coal terminal, north of Bowen.

State Environment Minister Andrew Powell says pigs are destroying turtle rookeries on the coast.

"The importance of removing those feral pigs is that the pigs get into the turtle hutches, the nesting here on the beach, and get stuck into the eggs," he said.

"If we can get rid of the pigs then we can make sure more sustainable outcomes for those turtles that are nesting here on the beach."

Pigs eat sheep, breed like rabbits

Feral pigs captured in a trap in rural Queensland. ( Supplied: Craig Alison )

Tom McShane from the Burdekin Bowen Integrated Floodplain Management Advisory Committee says the pigs breed like rabbits.

"The feral pigs in this area are quite healthy specimens and they get quite large, and I guess it's the numbers that really make the difference, they do breed very prolifically," he said.

Mr McShane says the feral pigs create "considerable problems in wetland disturbing the biodiversity and generally making a mess".

While council and landholders regularly fund land trapping, baiting and shooting of the pests, aerial shooting is more efficient and allows greater access to thicker scrubland.

Apart from the environmental damaged caused by feral pigs, Mr Alison says the boars can also kill and eat lambs.

"South of Cunnamulla, some people are down to a lambing percentage of only 15 or 20 per cent and so when they had a thousand ewes they don't have a thousand lambs now they are down to only 50 to 60 lambs because of feral pig predation," he said.

Mr Powell says the grants will also provide funding to improve waterways and remove weeds.

"There's also a significant amount of work being done around the state on weeds of national significance. There are also particular projects where revegetating creek beds and resorting areas after the floods of 2011-2013," he said.

Applications for round three of the Everyone's Environment grants program will open in 2014.

Round two of the program provided $3.4 million for 83 projects.