Two million quelea birds killed to save rice

By Donald Kiirya

The crop protection department of the Ministry of Agriculture has conducted an aerial bird control operation at Tilda Uganda Limited in Kibimba, Bugiri district in which a large number of quelea birds have been wiped out.

The operation conducted in collaboration with the Desert Locust Control Organisation for East Africa (DLCO-EA) successfully ended on Tuesday. true

DLCO-EA provided an aircraft and crew that sprayed the birds’ roosters and feeding grounds with an avicide called Fenthion, also known as Queletox.

They used an ultra-low volume method that looks like mist and sprayed 30 hectares at the edge of the rice fields.

According to Evarist Magara, a country representative of DLCO-EA, there has been an upsurge of Quelea birds in eastern Uganda that eat and destroy cereals such as sorghum and rice resulting into massive food losses and hunger.

He said the management of Tilda reported the problem a month ago after realising an increase in the population of the birds and decrease in their production.

“Some of these birds migrated from Kween district where they were discovered. While in Kween, they destroyed over 1,000 acres of sorghum leading to a loss of over sh1b,” according to Magara.

He added that Tilda also employed about 300 people to scare birds but have not been effective enough to scare them off out of the rice fields.

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“Tilda has been losing over 1.5 tonnes of rice per day to the birds. We realised they had gone beyond economic injury level so the Government had to come in with the control,” Magara argued.

He said between sh40m and sh45m is lost per day in regard to what is being destroyed and consumed by the birds at Tilda rice fields.

Magara said they managed the birds to a reasonable number, adding that Kenya and Tanzania have also been controlling the same birds.He, however, said it was the first operation in 10 years at Tilda.

Magara said the Quelea birds are limited to the north-eastern part of Uganda and are associated to the Savanah type of weather. He said they do not go to the highlands.

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The aircraft used to spray the birds’ roosters and feeding grounds with an avicid. PHOTO/Donald Kiirya

Stephen Byantwale, the principal agricultural inspector in the Ministry of Agriculture, said the exercise targeting the birds’ nests was environmentally safe. He said each rooster had about two million birds.

He said before the spraying exercise, his team moved around the communities and sensitised people about the dangers of eating the dead birds. Magara said about 95% of birds were destroyed.

“We sprayed between three and four litres of avicide per hectare and managed to destroy over 1.8 million birds,” Magara said.

He added that athough their mission was successful, the birds would multiply within four months and called for continuous control operations.

Stephen Waiswa, a field officer at Tilda, said by Tuesday morning, he observed a great reduction in the number of birds.

“Before the spray, birds could move in a flock of about 100 birds. They are now moving in flocks of between 20 to 30 birds,” Waiswa said.