Tanzania Killed 5 Million Quelea Birds To Protect Rice Fields
By Rédaction Africanews with AFP
A total of 5 million Quelea, small red-billed birds, have been exterminated in Tanzania to protect rice fields, notably using drones, the Tanzania National Plant And Pesticide Monitoring
Agency said penultimate Wednesday.
The five million Quelea birds were killed last week in the Manyara region in the north of the country, where more than 400 hectares of commercial crops were under threat.
Joseph Ndunguru, Director General of the TPHPA, told AFP. that “we have killed five million destructive birds and are now monitoring other areas”
Quelea Quelea, or Red-billed Workers, which travel in large flocks, have in the past wreaked havoc on crops in Africa, with invasions usually occurring at the start of the dry season in September and October.
Mr. Ndunguru said the agency had targeted the swarms with aerial spraying, including drones, over a four-day period, killing them before they damaged rice fields in northern Tanzania.
According to TPHPA, the birds are capable of destroying more than 50 tonnes of food crops in a single day.
In 2013, Uganda exterminated 1.8 million Quelea Quelea, also to protect rice fields, provoking the ire of environmentalists.