NON-CHEMICAL CONTROL OF THE RED-BILLED QUELEA (QUELEA QUELEA) AND USE OF THE BIRDS AS A FOOD RESOURCE BOAZ NDAGABWENE MTOBESYA A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the University of Greenwich for the Degree of Master of Philosophy November 2012 DECLARATION I certify that this work has not been accepted in substance for any degree, and is not currently being submitted for any degree other than that of Master of Philosophy (M.Phil.) being studied at the University of Greenwich. I also declare that this work is a result of my own investigation except where otherwise identified by references and that I have not plagiarised the work of others. name…………………………………………… (Boaz N. Mtobesya, Student) name……………………………………………… (Professor Robert A. Cheke, First Supervisor) name………………………………………………. (Dr Steven R. Belmain, Second Supervisor) (ii) D E D I C A T ION Dedicated to my God and Jesus Christ my Saviour in whose hands my life is. (iii) ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First my sincere gratitude goes to almighty God who bestowed upon me his love and mercies throughout the entire period of my research. This work would not have been possible without Him and the help of my supervisors. I would like to express my profound gratitude to Professor Robert A. Cheke my first supervisor and my second supervisor Dr Steven R. Belmain for their invaluable advice and encouragement throughout the period of my research. Bob your constructive critique and kindness steered me along profitable pathways. Your visits in Tanzania during my field work, suggestions and thoughtfulness gave me the impetus to balance the tightrope of my research. Thank you for the countless moments of informal talks and emails that you sent me, for which you sacrificed your time. I am also indebted to Dr Stephen R. Young for assistance with statistical analyses of the trapping data. My gratitude also goes to Professor Andrew Westby, Dr. John Orchard and Mark Parnell whose empathy towards the needs of research students facilitated the completion of this thesis. Secondly, I would like to thank my sponsor the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the University of Greenwich through the SADC – ICART – ICRARF Project without whose funds this research might only have been a dream. Professor Rhodes Makundi my home supervisor receives my thanks for his keen interest in the research and his encouragement. I am indebted to my wife Veneranda Boaz Mtobesya for her help in many parts of the research, and her enduring encouragement. My thanks go to Dr. Clive C. H. Elliott for his dedicated support and advice during the field work. I am grateful for his timely and helpful assistance and encouragement. (iv) Thirdly, numerous people had impacts on my research findings and were key facilitators to my getting results. These include the Plant Protection Research Institute (PPRI) team from South Africa (Etienne van de Walt, Jan de Klerk, and Pietie van Niekerk), Collen Mbereki and his colleagues from Botswana, Richard Magoma and the drivers from the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security and Cooperatives, Tanzania, for their hard work and commitment throughout the duration of the project. I owe thanks to the staff of the Plant Health Services, Dodoma Office, Central Zone, District Agricultural Office, Kondoa and Regional Administration Office, Dodoma, for their invaluable support and encouragement. I am indebted to my dependable field assistants, especially Damas Shumbusho, Shaban Katetemera and others who were my companions through thick and thin in the field. I would like to thank the communities of Kelema, Pongai, Solya, Piho, Iyoli, and Mamba villages for their enthusiastic contribution to this work, also for their friendship and hospitality. I would like to express my special thanks to Ms. Flora Nyange for her persistence in typing of this work during which she suffered a lot with power cuts, a common phenomenon in developing countries like Tanzania. Lastly my appreciation goes to my children, Tumaini, Emmanuela, Eunice and Hannar, who missed my comforting presence throughout the field work, your sacrifice of letting me go is inestimable and I am sure I will make up for the lost time. I am also eternally grateful to my loving wife Veneranda who encouraged me right from my very first steps. Thanks for the countless hours of prayers and labour of love. To all these people and to numerous men and women whom I met, consulted with, participated together, shared my vision and fears, I express my deep appreciation. (v) ABSTRACT The Red-billed Quelea Quelea quelea is the most numerous terrestrial bird and the most destructive avian pest of small-grain crops throughout sub-Saharan Africa. The birds occur in 60% of the cereal production areas of Tanzania almost every year. Quelea can cause serious local damage to millet, rice, wheat and sorghum and cause considerable hardship to subsistence farmers. Spraying with the organophosphate avicide Queletox®, (60% fenthion a.i.) remains the preferred control measure despite its negative impact on the environment and high cost. As an alternative control measure, the mass trapping of quelea and harvesting their chicks to use both as a source of protein and for income generation was investigated. Two traps using very large nets, based on designs used successfully to catch birds in Tunisia and the USA, failed with quelea; but success was achieved with four other methods. With traditional basket traps made of grass, an average of 286 birds could be caught per trap per day, this increased to 574 birds by using a replica wire mesh version. When using mist nets in a breeding colony the number of birds caught per day per 12 m long net varied from 445 for the first day to 231 on the tenth day. Trials with a roost trap yielded 5,000 to 17,000 birds per day. Cooking and preservation methods were investigated to maximise the potential utilization of quelea meat as a food resource. The best preservation method was achieved by boiling with added salt and drying, while the cooked product rated most highly by volunteer tasters was fresh meat. Proximate analysis was conducted on preserved, milled, quelea meat which confirmed the highly nutritive value of quelea for human consumption. It was concluded that mass-trapping and chick harvesting methods were more environmentally friendly control methods than spraying or use of explosives, with the added benefits of providing high-quality proteinaceous, uncontaminated, food and income generation for the trappers and their families. (vi) CONTENTS TITLE PAGE (i) DECLARATION (ii) DEDICATION (iii) ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS (iv) ABSTRACT (vi) CONTENTS (vii) LIST OF FIGURES (xii) LIST OF PLATES (xiv) LIST OF TABLES (xvi) ABBREVIATIONS (xviii) CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION 1.1 Tanzania and its agriculture 1 1.2 Background to the study 3 1.3. Rationale for selecting the study 6 1.3.1. Bird population increase and re-distribution 6 1.3.2. Quelea control methods 6 1. 3. 3. Use of quelea as a resource 8 1.4. Aims and objectives of the study 9 1. 4. 1. Aims 9 1. 4. 2. Objective of the research 9 1. 4. 3. The research output 10 1.5. The research questions 10 1.6. Delimitation and limitation of the research 11 1.7. Thesis outline 12 (vii) CHAPTER TWO DESCRIPTION OF THE STUDY AREA 2.1. Introduction 13 2.2. Administrative Units 13 2.3. Population characteristics 15 2.4. Climate 15 2.5. Physical features 15 2.6. Drainage 16 2.7. Vegetation 16 2.8. Agro-economic zones 17 2.9. Agriculture 18 2.10. Irrigated agriculture 25 CHAPTER THREE THE GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION, BREEDING SEASONALITY AND FORECASTING OF BREEDING OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE RED-BILLED QUELEA IN TANZANIA 3.1. Introduction 27 3.2. Review of literature on the geographical distribution and timing of breeding by Red-billed Quelea in Tanzania. 28 3.2.1. The ‘early-rains’ migration 29 3.2.2. The Red-billed Quelea breeding migration in Tanzania 30 3.3. Records of roosts and breeding colonies reported in the Central Zone in Tanzania during the study period (2006-2010) 35 3.4. Current status of the Red-billed Quelea in Tanzania based on recent Ministry of Agriculture reports 36 3.5. Forecasting breeding opportunities for the Red-billed Quelea Quelea quelea in Tanzania. 42 3.5.1. Breeding forecasting model 3.5.2. Results and Discussion of validating the model with Tanzanian data 46 (viii) CHAPTER FOUR INVESTIGATIONS OF STAKEHOLDERS’ KNOWLEDGE AND NEEDS REGARDING QUELEA TRAPPING AND USE OF QUELEA AS FOOD 4.1. Introduction 51 4.2. Methods used in collecting information. Knowledge of mass-trapping and use of quelea as a food source and income generation 52 4.2.1. Workshop 52 4.2.2. Meetings 53 4.2.3. Farmers’ show 53 4.3. Results 54 4.4. Discussion 54 CHAPTER FIVE MASS-TRAPPING METHODS 5.1. Introduction 58 5.2. Field work 59 5.2.1. Survey 59 5.2.2. Planning and design of trapping activity 59 5.2.2.1. Planning 60 5.2.2.2. Design 60 5.3. Trapping methods tested 60 5.3.1. The “Tunisian” trap 60 5.3.1.1. Introduction 60 5.3.1.2. Materials and Methods 61 5.3.1.3. Results 67 5.3.1.3.1. Tunisian trap 67 5.3.1.4. Discussion on results of the Tunisian trapping attempts 67 5.3.2. Funnel trap (modified Tunisian trap) 68 5.3.2.1. Introduction 68 5.3.2.2. Materials and Methods 69 5.3.2.3. Results 75 5.2.2.4. Discussion 76 (ix) 5.3.3. Traditional basket traps 77 5.3.3.1. Introduction 77 5.3.3.2.