Birds wreak havoc in Omusati

HUGE flocks of quelea birds have descended on mahangu fields in the Omusati Region, destroying crops and adding to fears of a poor harvest after a disappointing rainy season.

The red-billed quelea is regarded as a pest in most of sub-Saharan Africa and is the bird species that has had the greatest economic impact on the continent, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). It is the world’s most numerous bird species and flocks can number in the millions.”We are still two to three months away from harvesting.Will these birds leave us anything?” one farmer asked The Namibian.”People have nothing anymore in their mahangu fields.The mahangu crops have been eaten up by the birds that are in swarms all over Onesi and Ruacana constituencies,” the Regional Councillor for Ruacana constituency, Lazarus Kornelius, said yesterday.”My people are in deep trouble and we will really need drought relief food from the Government again this year,” he added.”We need assistance from concerned Ministries and organisations to rescue the little [mahangu] we have left,” Kornelius said.According to Agricultural Technician Veronika Katanga at Etunda, villagers in the Ruacana and Onesi constituencies have started beating on metal objects in an effort to scare the birds away, but to no avail.Guarding the fields is usually the chore of children, but with them at school during the day, the task now falls on elderly family members.It appears to be too much for them.”It’s really a big problem for the elderly people to chase the birds away during the day when children are at school and this has resulted in many mahangu fields being destroyed by the birds,” she said.”Many, if not all mahangu farmers in those two constituencies will go hungry, as they have nothing at the moment,” Katanga said.She said that area also did not receive good rain this year.Even the tradition of stopping all activity to mourn the dead until their burial has been temporarily abandoned.”I was at a mourning house yesterday in our Etunda village and I could see that while some people are mourning inside the homestead, some were in the mahangu field trying to chase the birds out,” Katanga said.Villagers with homesteads around the Olushandja Dam near Ruacana are bearing the brunt of the aerial assault.The dam, surrounded by dense bush, seems to be an attractive place for the birds to roost.Some people are so desperate that they are calling on Government to destroy the dam and instead bring in water by canal.The Namibian has learnt that some people with mahangu fields around Olushandja Dam have started chopping down trees in an effort to discourage the birds.But that is not helping either.People in the Oshikoto, Oshana and Ohangwena regions have also reported flocks of queleas, but the situation there is not as serious as in Omusati.It is the world’s most numerous bird species and flocks can number in the millions.”We are still two to three months away from harvesting.Will these birds leave us anything?” one farmer asked The Namibian.”People have nothing anymore in their mahangu fields.The mahangu crops have been eaten up by the birds that are in swarms all over Onesi and Ruacana constituencies,” the Regional Councillor for Ruacana constituency, Lazarus Kornelius, said yesterday.”My people are in deep trouble and we will really need drought relief food from the Government again this year,” he added.”We need assistance from concerned Ministries and organisations to rescue the little [mahangu] we have left,” Kornelius said. According to Agricultural Technician Veronika Katanga at Etunda, villagers in the Ruacana and Onesi constituencies have started beating on metal objects in an effort to scare the birds away, but to no avail.Guarding the fields is usually the chore of children, but with them at school during the day, the task now falls on elderly family members.It appears to be too much for them.”It’s really a big problem for the elderly people to chase the birds away during the day when children are at school and this has resulted in many mahangu fields being destroyed by the birds,” she said.”Many, if not all mahangu farmers in those two constituencies will go hungry, as they have nothing at the moment,” Katanga said.She said that area also did not receive good rain this year.Even the tradition of stopping all activity to mourn the dead until their burial has been temporarily abandoned.”I was at a mourning house yesterday in our Etunda village and I could see that while some people are mourning inside the homestead, some were in the mahangu field trying to chase the birds out,” Katanga said.Villagers with homesteads around the Olushandja Dam near Ruacana are bearing the brunt of the aerial assault.The dam, surrounded by dense bush, seems to be an attractive place for the birds to roost.Some people are so desperate that they are calling on Government to destroy the dam and instead bring in water by canal.The Namibian has learnt that some people with mahangu fields around Olushandja Dam have started chopping down trees in an effort to discourage the birds.But that is not helping either.People in the Oshikoto, Oshana and Ohangwena regions have also reported flocks of queleas, but the situation there is not as serious as in Omusati.