The Sunday Mail
Theseus Shambare
MR LLOYD CHITATE’s six hectares of wheat in Mazowe were under siege. Ironically, his gigantic problem was caused by small creatures — quelea birds.
“Scaring away the birds is a continuous, labour-intensive activity that takes our time away from other productive tasks. Alternatively, we use scarecrows in the form of brightly coloured plastics on sticks across the grain fields,” said Mr Chitate.
In 2021, Mr Chitate had his whole field decimated at maturity stage by the marauding birds, a conundrum faced by wheat farmers perennially in Zimbabwe.
However, growers like him have every reason to smile as the Government has made a breakthrough in acquiring brand new hi-tech drones, dubbed Agras T40, to deal with the birds.
The director for Migratory Pests and Biosecurity Control in the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development, Mr Shingirai Nyamutukwa, said the country is awaiting delivery of the drones.
“As we move to achieve wheat self-sufficiency, losses need to be reduced at all costs. We have acquired 9 Agras T40 drones that will intensify the fight against the menacing quelea birds.
“We are awaiting delivery of the drones. As we speak, the drones are at the border, undergoing customs clearance,” said Mr Nyamutukwa last week.
The drones, he said, are aimed at improving efficiency and reduce costs, as efforts to save the crop from the migratory birds continue.
With a carrying capacity of 40 litres of chemicals and a sprayer, these drones are economical as they can use only three litres per hectare and can spray a 40ha roosting site within 30 minutes.
This follows last season’s aerial spray trials using the Zimbabwe National Geospatial and Space Agency (ZINGSA) drones and hired aircraft, a method that proved to be the most effective.
Government will have 10 staff members trained to operate the drones before they are deployed in eight provinces, with one reserved for rapid emergency response at the Quelea Command Centre in Harare.
Previously, the teams employed strategies that included chemical control, using Fenthion 640 ULV, which was applied through tractor-mounted sprayers and motorised back-pack sprayers; physical trapping using nets; vuvuzelas to scare the birds away; long sticks; and noise instruments.
The small red-billed weaver bird is considered not only the most abundant in the world , but also the most destructive to cereal grains like wheat, sorghum, millet, rice and barley.
Quelea birds account for 95 percent of wheat losses annually.
Each tiny bird can feed on four grammes of wheat per day. Experts say a million birds can result in losses exceeding 40 000 tonnes per day. With an approximate population of 1,8 billion in 25 countries worldwide, quelea birds have been derailing Zimbabwe’s wheat production targets for decades.
But now, Zimbabwe is rising to the occasion by continuing to harness technology in agriculture.
Permanent Secretary for Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development Dr John Basera said the drones are part of various technological advancements in the agriculture sector.
“Zimbabwe’s farmers are fast embracing smart and efficient technologies in agricultural operations. One such technology is the aerial operations aircraft. The aircraft can complete aerial operations of up to 700ha/day. Embracing such cutting-edge techs will further unlock the huge potential of agriculture
“Recently, the ministry received 1 000 laptops, which will be used by agricultural extension workers. This was after all extension workers were given more than 5 000 internet-connected mobile tablets to enable them to access new agronomy updates to relay to farmers.”
Dr Basera said his ministry also took delivery of cutting-edge meteorological and hydrological equipment from development partners.
“The consignment consisted of 26 automated weather stations, 10 automatic rainfall stations and 10 real-time gauging stations — valued at US$550 000. The equipment is aimed at improving evidence generation and utilisation for informed resilience-related policy decisions.
“This coincides well with the ministry’s thrust of smart agricultural systems to be more information and communications technology (ICT)-based.”
Zimbabwe was nominated to lead the Smart Agriculture flagship under the Smart Africa Alliance, a grouping of 36 countries working towards transforming the African continent through ICTs and innovation.
This year, for the first time, the crop health assessment has started to be carried out by the country’s spacecraft, ZimSat-1, which is administered by ZINGSA.
In an interview recently, ZINGSA co-ordinator Mr Painos Gweme said the satellite is now fully operational and engendering technological advancement in agriculture.
“The satellite is mounted with a multi-spectral camera, therefore, the key information the satellite transmits are images of specific areas in Zimbabwe.
“The images are useful and can be used for various applications, which include change detection of an area over time, crop health assessment, environmental monitoring (veld fire assessments, as well as deforestation and land degradation assessment),” said Mr Gweme.
