Quelea Quelea

Last week I had the pleasure of visiting Dar es Salaam. During my visit, I spent a couple of hours in conversation with the CEO of Kilombero Plantations. This business owns a substantial estate at Mngeta in the Kilombero Valley, Southern Tanzania, and, now that the rains have started, is busy planting rice. Amid our lively discussions, he mentioned the potential threat from the "Kwela Kwela" bird (pictured above). This little creature is generally considered to be the most numerous bird in the world and, due to its habit of descending in vast clouds on arable crops and stripping them bare in a matter of hours, is often called the Locust bird. Needless to say, as part of any risk management strategy for an arable farm, the risk of a Quelea Quelea invasion needs careful consideration.

On my flight back to Uganda, I began to think a lot more about the difficulties of crop protection in an environment like the Kilombero Valley. Sandwiched between the Udzungwa mountains and the Selous Game Reserve, this valley is vast, low-lying, humid and remote. It is an environmental hotspot, filled with migratory routes, wetlands, and rare and endangered species. There are also numerous attendant social issues, including ethnic migration, land ownership, poverty and public health concerns. Under these circumstances, threats to agricultural enterprise are extensive. Large mammals (elephant, buffalo, hippo) can cause huge amounts of damage. Rodents and monkeys present risks. Army worms, thripps and other insect pests are liable to launch attacks. Quelea Quelea can descend, literally, out of the blue. And local human residents may regard edible grain crops as fair game for pilferage.

In a situation like this, an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) approach is critical. Without taking an IPM approach, the only options are (1) to accept significant crop loss or (2) to invest in hugely expensive fencing and access control systems, either of which are normally unacceptable to agriculturalists for financial reasons, or (3) to use chemicals (in practice poisons) which are usually unacceptable to all other stakeholders for environmental, health and safety reasons. Indeed, the normal "solutions" for Quelea Quelea are either napalming nest colonies (!) or the use of highly toxic organophosphate poisons, niether of which are generally considered environmentally acceptable, especially in an environment as fragile and sensitive as the Kilombero Valley.

One of AAC's first investments was in a business called Real IPM. Located in Thika, Kenya, this business was established in 2005 by two entrepreneurs with a vision to bring IPM solutions to the Kenyan horticulture industry. We were attracted by this vision for a number of reasons: first, it presented an opportunity to invest in a business bringing improved technology and know-how to horticulture in the region; second, it offered a solution which promised, if adopted, to reduce the use of potentially harmful chemicals in the horticulture industry; and third it appeared to be a sound business proposition. I had first become aware of IPM as a strategy to reduce chemical usage and cost during my association about four years earlier with a large floriculture business located in Naivasha. This business had employed a young British scientist to develop an IPM programme and, though initially skeptical, I had after visiting been convinced that the system should be scaled up from the pilot phase.

IPM has developed enormously over the past 20 years or more, gathering pace with the growth of the organic movement. Though traditionally focused on insect pests, IPM is practiced over a wide range of crops. In oil palm plantations, for example, where rodents (rats) are a damaging pest, the highly effective IPM technique of siting nesting boxes for barn owls at an appropriate density is the optimal control mechanism. Famously, the Elephant Pepper trust in Zimbabwe has pioneered the cultivation of birds eye chilli peppers as a border - and cash - crop to protect farmers against elephant incursion using the slogan "Elephants hate chilli" And some growers use sun hemp, again as a border crop, to protect against baboons and other monkey species incursions. IPM solutions also include the use of beneficial fungus species (eg trichoderma) to protect against nematode worms, and doubtless research and product development for further crop protection solutions will continue apace.

For the sake of African arable farmers, including Kilombero Plantations, let's hope that a solution for the Quelea Quelea threat presents itself in the near future. All suggestions are gratefully received.