Quelea birds ruin sorghum in Kitui

Swarms of quelea birds have invaded farmlands in Kitui County, destroying crops that were due for harvest.

The dangerous breed of birds, estimated by experts to be in excess of 10 million, have destroyed farm produce worth millions of shillings in Maliku and Tseikuru areas. And now the county government wants the national government to contain them.

While the huge, swirling flocks of birds, appearing like dust storms with amazing synchronised flying patterns, were a sight to behold for local residents, they left a trail of destruction.

Sorghum farmers in Mwingi Constituency are the worst hit. The farmers had been contracted by the East African Breweries to produce the Gadam grain, a special sorghum variety used for making beer.

But the quelea birds descended on their farms, leaving empty husks in their wake.

In five days, the birds reduced Rose Mutuku’s 200-acre sorghum farm in Maliku area in Kitui Rural constituency to nothing.

Ms Mutuku was expecting to harvest more than 500 bags of sorghum and, after three months of tedious and costly work, she hoped to earn Sh1.6 million.

When she first noticed the birds last week, Ms Mutuku employed 20 people to scare the birds away. But they could not chase them away and had to watch the swarms destroy her crop.

Scare crows don’t work

“It was painful to watch all my investment being consumed by the overwhelming numbers of quelea birds,” she said.

The farmer said her workers did everything, from lighting fires, shouting, to erecting scare crows but to no avail.

By the time Ms Mutuku sought help from the county government to control the birds, almost half of her crop was gone.

According to the county minister for agriculture Charles Kang’e, aircraft will be used to fight the invasion. Mr Kang’e said the Plant Protection Services Division at the Ministry of Agriculture headquarters had mobilised a fixed wing aircraft to spray and kill the birds.

“Plant protection is a function of the national government but we’ve created a crop protection department at the county level to help increase awareness among farmers on effective response mechanisms in the event of such invasions,” Mr Kang’e said.

In Tseikuru district, former Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka was among farmers who were left counting losses. The birds descended on dams and fish ponds on Mr Musyoka’s farm.

But Mr Musyoka, who was among residents who watched the birds flying in amazing patterns, said that were it not for their destructive nature, the birds were a sight to behold.

The quelea birds are believed to have migrated from either Angola in southern Africa or from northern Sudan.

“The aircraft locate their exact resting places then spray them,” said Mr Roy Kithae, an officer with the plant protection services division.

Mr Kithae said the birds might be breeding in conservation areas and could have been living in national parks/reserves.

“The best way of eradicating them is by large-scale spraying of infested areas with quelea-tox chemical,” said Mr Kithae.