Weekly forecasts help prevent birds damaging crops. Validated RNRRS Output.
Abstract
This is one of 280 summaries describing key outputs from the projects run by DFID's 10-year Renewable Natural Resources Research Strategy (RNRRS) programmes.
Associated with a range of projects. Weekly forecasts now warn pest managers in Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland and Zimbabwe where and when to expect bird pests. They can then take action to control them and tip off farmers to protect their crops. The Red-billed Quelea devastates millet and sorghum crops throughout southern Africa. The birds migrate long distances to feed on grass seeds, so their migrations follow rains with a predictable time lag. Every week, a map posted on the internet shows where the bird pest season hasn't yet begun, where there's been enough rain to prompt the first migrations, where queleas could breed and where the season is ending. These forecasts have proved so successful that national crop protection teams all over southern Africa now use them.
The CD has the following information for this output: Description, Validation, Current Situation, Environmental Impact. Attached PDF (11 pp.) taken from the CD.
Citation
CPP41, New technologies, new processes, new policies: tried-and-tested and ready-to-use results from DFID-funded research, Research Into Use Programme, Aylesford, Kent, UK, ISBN 978-0-9552595-6-2, p 128.