The government has kicked off an aerial bird control operation in Kisumu County to wipe out the destructive quelea birds in the area.
The initiative spearheaded by the Ministry of Agriculture targets to eradicate an estimated 5.8 million birds found in nine locations where the birds hide at night.
Kisumu County Executive Member for Agriculture Ken Onyango while announcing the outbreak of quelea birds revealed that two rice schemes are worst affected.
“Our farmers have incurred huge loses as some 300 acres of rice fields have been destroyed by the birds with 2,000 more acres under threat,” he said.
Upon receiving reports from field officers, the county government sought help from the national government and a team from Kilimo House arrived at the lakeside city armed with equipment and chemicals.
“As a result, the department of Crop Protection and Safety from Nairobi has been dispatched to Kisumu today to start a massive campaign to fight the birds through spraying,” said Mr Onyango.
Nyando has the highest population of birds estimated at 2 million, followed by Nyakach with 800,000 and Muhoroni with 500,000.
Most of the birds have migrated to the Okana Irrigation scheme from Kisumu East Sub-County, said a report from Kisumu County.
“Our operation will cover the National Irrigation Authority area in Muhoroni, Awash Kano, Ogange, Amboo, Okana, Ogongo, Kudho, Haro and Alara,” it added.
They attributed the invasion to partial control by the crop protection unit noting that the last crop protection was done in March 2022.
“This was because there was a little crop in the field to warrant effective control,” said the CEC.
He said the unsynchronised cropping calendar in the rice schemes and the growing of sorghum, which easily attracts birds, are some of the reasons for the surge of the birds which threaten the crop of smallholder farmers in the area.
It is estimated that an average quelea bird eats around 10 grams of grain per day — roughly half its body weight— and a flock of 2 million can devour as much as 20 tonnes of grain in a single day.
