Tanzania Kills Five Million Quelea Birds Invading Rice Farms

More than five million invasive Quelea birds have been killed in a mass cull in Tanzania, the authorities have said in comments reported in the local media.

The birds had invaded more than 1,000 acres of rice farms in the Manyara region in the north of the country, causing extensive losses.

Officials spent more than four days using drones to spray the swarms of birds with Avicides, the Tanzania Times reports.

The invasive birds were capable of destroying more than 50 tonnes of food crops every day, according to Gadman Mbuko from the Tanzania plant health and pesticides authority.

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Quelea birds often destroy grains like rice and wheat.

In 2021, the United Nation’s Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) estimated that $50m worth of crops are lost to the birds each year, mostly in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Meanwhile, an estimated 21 million red-billed quelea (Quelea quelea) birds are ravaging rice, sorghum, millet, and wheat fields in eight regions in the southern highlands, central, and lake zones of Tanzania.

The invasion is threatening other regions in the country. The pest has also been reported in Botswana and Zimbabwe farming areas.

The average quelea bird eats around 10 grams of grain per day and a flock of two million can devour as much as 20 tons of grain in a single day. With an estimated adult breeding population of at least 1.5 billion.