Sokoto farmers’ lost battle with quelea birds

In Dange Shuni Local Government Area of Sokoto State, farmers have had sleepless nights trying to keep thousands of migrating quelea birds from destroying their crops. The battles have been intense, the losses severe, but the birds seem to be winning as our correspondent reports. Nasiru stares blankly at his farm that has gone into […]

In Dange Shuni Local Government Area of Sokoto State, farmers have had sleepless nights trying to keep thousands of migrating quelea birds from destroying their crops. The battles have been intense, the losses severe, but the birds seem to be winning as our correspondent reports.

Nasiru stares blankly at his farm that has gone into ruin since a flock of destructive red-billed quelea birds descended on villages in Dange Shuni Local Government Area of Sokoto state.

“It is a devastating blow to this year’s harvest,” he says, his voice low and gloomy.

Bello is one of many farmers in Rafin Ali, Rafin Jidda, Unguwar Sani, Gidan Malamali, Buji, Tsefe and Rugga Dubu among other villages  of Dange Shuni whose livelihoods have suffered following the birds who feed on maturing crops and have  the propensity to completely wipe out a farm.

Inhabitants reveal that over 150 farmlands in the villages were affected and that in the wake of the attack, they abandoned other activities to spend the whole day chasing birds daily for about two weeks.

The quelea bird menace is not new but it has remained a source of concern as it results in loss of production, income and investment. It also poses serious challenges for food security, as it undermines efforts towards achieving sustainable development goal 2, which aims to end hunger, achieve food security, improve nutrition and sustainable development.

The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations describes the red-billed quelea birds as “the most important granivorous bird pest in Africa. The range of the species extends over 20% of the land area of the continent and affects the food production capacity of some 25 countries.”

In Sokoto, farmers in the affected villages are grieving over the colossal damage to their crops.

“The birds spent two weeks wreaking havoc on our crops resulting in much loss,” Village Head of Rafin Jidda, Sarkin Yaki Abubakar laments.

“The birds arrived here one morning around 6 am and they stayed for almost two weeks before they moved elsewhere in search of more farm lands to ravage,” he says.

Before the quelea birds attack, Sarkin Yaki expected to harvest 150 bundles of millet but with the prevailing situation, he says he may not be able to reap 60 bundles.

“In fact, I cannot even quantify what I am going to get until harvest is over due to the destruction which was immense,” he adds.

During the attack, Sarkin Yaki would wake up as early as 6am, mobilize all his children and move to the farm, armed with empty plastic jerry cans, which they beat loudly to scare off the birds. “We take a break at 10am and resume surveillance at 12pm until 6 pm all through the two weeks of their stay,” he says.

Seven years ago, he recalls, when there was a similar attack, he had rented Dane guns from local hunters to scare the birds out of his farms, but in the end could not harvest any crop.

“This village is a fully agrarian community and we practice both rainy and dry season farming,” he said. “We produce rice, pepper, onion and tomato during dry season farming as well as millet, guinea corn and maize.”

Another farmer in the area 63-year-old Bello, who had high hopes of abundant harvest, says a large chunk of the remains of the outbreak could only be used for animal feed.

“There is nothing left after the attack,” Bello says. “The remaining ones need rain to grow better, and we are facing shortage of rainfall. Rain is something we badly need, and we will not relent in praying for it.”

For Abubakar Abubakar, 50, the quelea birds attack is something he hates to recall having to go out very early and instead of farming, spend the entire day chasing birds out of their farms.

Abubakar feels particularly bad that his parents at the time denied themselves good sleep and had to mobilize his younger ones to battle the birds.

“For 11 good days, we battled the quelea birds from 6am to 6pm with just a 2-hour break.  It was a nightmare to most of the farmers in this area even as we suffer shortage of rainfall. If you visit the farms, you see heaps of chaff and a whitish substance from the semi-matured grains in their cobs that the birds destroyed,” he says.

Sokoto State chapter of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria, (AFAN)  confirmed  the presence of the quelea birds in some villages in DangeShuni.

They however said they were yet to notify the state government officially.

The association’s Spokesperson, Jamilu Sanusi Mohammed who is Special Adviser to AFAN Chairman in the state, estimates the destruction to be between N7-8million worth of crops.

“We were advised to write formally to the Director Agric of the LG for onward submission to the state government,” he reveals.

However, state commissioner for Agriculture Alhaji Arzika Tureta  says usually the Federal government  conducts aerial spray of the affected areas to get rid of quelea birds in thousands.

The Commissioner assures that very soon they would invite them for the exercise.

Last year in Sokoto, Transforming Irrigation Management in Nigeria (TRIMING) held an awareness programme on the use of nets as a viable protection option against quelea birds Mohammed Salasi, Country Representative, International Fertilizer Development Centre (IFDC), the implementing organisation of the TRIMING Extension Service Supervision Project, explains: “The net is a very simple technology that is supposed to be set up at the budding stage over rice fields. Once the birds land, they would get trapped, because of the size of the holes, they are not able to penetrate. At the milking stage, the birds are attracted to the farms and they can completely ravage it but with the use of the simple fish net farmers are able to protect their farms.”

However, speaking with the farmers on the use of the net, they note that though effective, its cost makes it unaffordable to the average farmer.

A large-scale rice farmer in Sokoto, Hajiya Maryam Kende who is using the net describes it as a very efficient method but expensive.

She explains that a farmer with a hectare of plantation needs about 50 nets and a net costs N2,175 in the market with only 2 years’ life span.

“I got my 25 pieces of the net from the Dangote Ancho-Borrower Scheme launched in Goronyo which I am currently using,” she discloses.

“Even spreading net needs someone with special skills of fixing it to avoid wind storm damaging it and exposing the crops to danger of the quelea birds.”

Sokoto State Rice Farmers Association Chairman, Alhaji Salihu Ibrahim recalls that after it was launched by the state government in 2016, many farmers had to abandon it thereafter due to its cost, preferring the manual approach where they make use of scare crows or catapult to scare the birds away.

He reveals that few farmers were able to get the nets through the Dangote Anchor Borrower scheme.

“The average farmers who are using it cannot buy enough to cover the entire land. It is a negligible number of farmers who are using it.”

Alhaji Salihu harps on the need for the state government to intervene in order to make the net available and affordable to farmers since quela birds issue is an annual problem.

On the use of spray, he states: “It is not effectively solving the problem because even if they spray one area, the birds can easily move to another area, since they are on migration which is part of their existence.”

The Chairman describes the net as the most effective and safest method of protecting the crops only that it is very expensive.

“There is need for special government intervention so that it becomes available in the market and affordable to farmers across the state,” he says.

In its report on the Emerging Transboundary Outbreak Pests, ETOPs, the USAID Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance, points out key approaches to addressing the menace.

Active surveillance, monitoring, reporting, sharing information and timely implementation of preventives interventions, it stresses, remain critical to abate the threats ETOPS pose to food security and livelihood of vulnerable communities.