Gov’t to Kill 5.8 Million Quelea Birds After Kisumu Invasion

The government has launched a bird control operation to exterminate millions of the destructive quelea birds that have invaded rice farms in Kisumu.

The operation spearheaded by the Ministry of Agriculture aims to eliminate at least 5.8 million birds in nine locations, according to Kisumu County Executive Member for Agriculture Ken Onyango.

“Our farmers have incurred huge losses as some 300 acres of rice fields have been destroyed by the birds with 2,000 more acres under threat,” Onyango said.

Officers from the Crop Protection and Safety department arrived in Kisumu armed with equipment and chemicals ahead of the operation.

Kisumu county government said most of the birds have migrated to Okana Irrigation scheme from Kisumu East Sub-County. 

“Our operation will cover the National Irrigation Authority area in Muhoroni, Awach Kano, Ogange, Amboo, Okana, Ogongo, Kudho, Haro and Alara,” it added.

It is estimated that an average quelea bird takes approximately 10 grams of grain per day and a flock of 2 million birds can eat up to 20 tonnes of grain in a single day.

Quelea is a genus of small passerine birds that belongs to the weaver family Ploceidae, confined to Africa.