More than 5 000 hectares of winter wheat planted in the Midlands province is under threat from marauding quelea birds.

In Kwekwe district wheat farmers have started counting their losses after 20 percent of their crop was  destroyed by quelea birds that have invaded the area.

The birds are ranked by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) as the worst destructive birds on planted crops.

Midlands Agritex officer, Mr Innocent Dzuke, confirmed the development in an interview saying most wheat that is being affected by quelea birds is in Kwekwe district in the Sherwood block.

“Yes, I can confirm that more than 5 000 hectares of winter wheat are under threat from quelea birds in the Midlands province, especially in Kwekwe district in the Sherwood block,” he said.

Mr Dzuke said about 20 percent of the crop has already been lost to the birds.

He encouraged affected farmers to identify roosting sites, names and coordinates of sites affected by the birds and report these to the Parks and Wildlife Management Authority for control.

“Farmers have been urged to identify roosting sites and to provide coordinates to plant quarantine so that the department of parks will be engaged for spraying. Farmers are also being advised to use bird shields, which have been distributed to the province,” he said.

A bird shield is a repellent placed on the crops and is available free of charge at Grain Marketing Board depots.
Mr Dzuke said the province planted 5 448ha under winter wheat.

Quelea birds can completely destroy crops in a short period of time hence the need for farmers to be alert.

According to FAO, the birds can destroy close to US$70 million worth of crops worldwide per annum.

Quelea birds are described as a wild bird species with an estimated adult breeding population of 1,5 billion pairs found in Sub-Saharan Africa.