Birds Injurious to Crops in West Africa

Manikowski, S.

doi:10.1080/09670878409370914

Cited by 7 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 6 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Bird problems in agriculture have existed since the foundation of agriculture (Wright, 1980). Focusing on bird species that cause damage to cereal crops in West Africa, the most important species include the Spur‐winged Goose ( Plectropterus gambensis ), Knob‐billed Goose ( Sarkidiornis melanota ), Village Weaver ( Ploceus cucullatus ), Black‐headed Weaver ( Ploceus melanocephalus ), Red‐billed Quelea ( Quelea quelea ), Red‐headed Quelea ( Quelea erythrops ) and Golden Sparrow ( Passer luteus ) (Manikowski, 1984). The main pest species in the SRV are generally ploceid weavers, particularly the Red‐billed Quelea and the Golden Sparrow (Bruggers and Ruelle, 1981 and Ibrahima Diop, chief of DPV Saint‐Louis, personal communication).…”

Section: Damage Inflicted By Pest Birds On Cereal Crops In Africamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The latest extensive overview of world bird damage problems has been provided by De Grazio (1978). An excellent overview of birds injurious to crops in West Africa was given by Manikowski (1984). Focusing on bird damage on cereal crops in Africa, Table 1 provides a non-exhaustive literature overview, showing that bird damage is an important loss factor for cereal crop production in Africa.…”

Section: Damage Inflicted By Pest Birds On Cereal Crops In Africamentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Estimating Bird Damage to Rice in Africa: Evidence from the Senegal River Valley

Mey

Demont²,

Diagne³

2011

J Agricultural Economics

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Granivorous birds, mainly the Red‐billed Quelea, have subsisted on cereal crops in Africa for centuries and have caused substantial damage. There is, however, limited recent evidence on their impact. We propose an indirect method to estimate bird‐inflicted crop losses by fitting a production function with a damage abatement component and pest intensity slope dummies on a panel database of rice farmers in the Senegal River Valley. This allows us to estimate both bird damage and marginal productivity of bird control at different levels of bird pressure. Annual bird damage is found to average around 13.2% of the potential rice production during the wet seasons of 2003–2007, which translates into an average annual economic loss of 4.7 billion FCFA (€7.1 million). Our results are consistent with farmers’ perceived bird‐inflicted crop losses, averaging 15.2%. More alarmingly, we observe declining marginal productivities of bird control under increasing bird pressure. Farmers indicate that at high bird pressure, the efficacy of traditional bird scaring methods is inadequate, which suggests that predictive (monitoring), preventive (population control) and protective (insurance) measures against massive invasions are more urgent than improving the average efficacy of curative measures (pest control). These findings are especially relevant to farmers and policy‐makers who are currently struggling to implement an ambitious food self‐sufficiency programme in Senegal.

show abstract

Section: Damage Inflicted By Pest Birds On Cereal Crops In Africamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Damage Inflicted By Pest Birds On Cereal Crops In Africamentioning

confidence: 99%

Estimating Bird Damage to Rice in Africa: Evidence from the Senegal River Valley

Mey

Demont²,

Diagne³

2011

J Agricultural Economics

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In this study, we organise labour time spent on bird scaring depending on climatic conditions (LM4, LM5), starting with farmers who grow crops other than millet and sorghum (beans, cowpeas, pigeon peas, green grams and maize), moving to farmers who practice mixed cropping with millet and sorghum, finally ending with those who cultivate only and millet and sorghum as monocrops. We expect that those farmers in the latter category will experience the largest time expenditures to bird scaring (Anderson and Martin, 1949;Mallamaire, 1961;Ruelle and Bruggers, 1982;Manikowski, 1984;Hill, 1997;FAO, 2005;FAO and WFP, 2009;Esipisu, 2013;One Acre Fund, 2013). Fig.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…In a study of crop damage by vertebrates in Uganda, for example, Hill (1997) describes birds as "major perpetrators of crop-raiding", with 32% of farmers in the study area reporting crop raids by birds (Hill, 1997). Bird raids are more common if the land is dedicated to the production of rice or drought-resilient, High Value Traditional Crop (HVTC) cereals such as sorghum and millet which are of preference to Western Kenya's migratory red-billed Quelea (Mallamaire, 1961;Ruelle and Bruggers, 1982;Manikowski, 1984;Hill, 1997;FAO and WFP, 2009;Esipisu, 2013;One Acre Fund, 2013). Varieties of millet and sorghum seeds are of such preference to birds they are commonly used as wild bird feed in North America and Europe (Anderson and Martin, 1949;FAO, 2005).…”

Section: Pests and Smallholdersmentioning

confidence: 98%

The tragedy of bird scaring

Ainsley

Kosoy

2015

Ecological Economics

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…Rice is mainly affected by birds in the humid zone and, to various degrees, in the Sahel and Sudanian savannah zones (Manikowski, 1984; 19 Bird Damage to Rice in Africa: On a global scale, only a handful of birds are serious pests of cereal crops. Birds can become serious pests when large flocks migrate seasonally and concentrate in large populations.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bird damage to rice in Africa: evidence and control.

Mey

Demont²

2013

Realizing Africa's Rice Promise

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

FAO, 1991). The most serious pest birds are gregarious and migratory, such as Red-billed Quelea, but locally other types such as water birds (e.g. ducks and geese) can also be of importance. Rice crops are vulnerable to bird attacks at early crop establishment stages (mostly by water birds) and highly susceptible from the milky stage up to maturation (exclusively by land birds). Most damage occurs during the dry season; in the rainy season there is usually an abundance of seeds from wild grasses available as alternative food sources (Ruelle and Bruggers, 1982). Aside from physical yield losses-which are the main focus of this chapter-other problems caused by pest birds include extensive labour requirements for bird scaring, the associated use of child labour, possible health or environmental hazards resulting from the use of chemical poisons, and the discouragement of farmers from dry-season rice cultivation. Although the adverse impact of birds on rice has received much international attention in the past and is still generally recognized, little research on bird damage or control is currently conducted. Given the increasing importance of bird damage in some regions such as the Sahel (de Mey, 2009), this chapter reviews the available evidence of bird damage to rice in Africa, the

show abstract

Birds Injurious to Crops in West Africa

Cited by 7 publications

References 6 publications

Estimating Bird Damage to Rice in Africa: Evidence from the Senegal River Valley

Estimating Bird Damage to Rice in Africa: Evidence from the Senegal River Valley

The tragedy of bird scaring

Bird damage to rice in Africa: evidence and control.

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About