This archive report was first published on 1 November 2019.
On November 1, 2019, the national government of Kenya, in collaboration with Kirinyaga County, conducted an aerial spraying exercise to control the quelea bird population that had invaded the Mwea Irrigation Scheme's rice crop.
The birds, which consume a significant amount of grains daily, have been causing annual damage to the expansive rice irrigation scheme.
According to Kirinyaga Deputy Governor Peter Ndambiri, approximately eight million birds had invaded the area during this season.
Speaking to the press after overseeing the spraying exercise, Ndambiri stated that farmers had incurred substantial costs to hire people to scare away the birds, which travel in swarms of over three thousand at a time.
The county government is working closely with growers to control the quelea bird menace, which poses a significant threat to food security in the county.
The spraying exercise will continue for the next three days to ensure the birds are eliminated from the scheme.
Deputy Governor Ndambiri also appealed to the government to ban the importation of rice during harvesting, citing the drop in prices due to the flooding of imported rice.
“Let the government buy our rice to feed our soldiers and those training as police officers; they should stop importing rice to feed our security forces,” he said.
