{"id":5969,"date":"2022-04-26T10:41:32","date_gmt":"2022-04-26T10:41:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/nedc-farmers-double-whammy-quelea-birds-climate-change"},"modified":"2022-04-26T18:47:21","modified_gmt":"2022-04-26T18:47:21","slug":"nedc-farmers-double-whammy-quelea-birds-climate-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/nedc-farmers-double-whammy-quelea-birds-climate-change","title":{"rendered":"NEDC farmers’ double whammy: Quelea birds, climate change"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Botswana. <\/strong><\/span>In the aftermath of the invasion of quelea birds in the North East District Council (NEDC) that decimated a large portion of planted land, there is light at the end of the tunnel after the Ministry of Agricultural Development and Food Security (MADFS) exterminated the birds.<\/b><\/p>\n

The new development was revealed by Jan Erasmus, chairperson of Tonota, Tutume, Masunga Farmers Association (TOTUMA) on Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cFollowing the invasion of quelea birds, we are very happy that the ministry finally managed to control the birds using explosives. Although the ministry exterminated the birds just before the Easter Holiday, we applaud the ministry for helping us. The birds\u2019 invasion is a natural calamity that adversely affected the farmers,\u201d said Erasmus.<\/p>\n

Erasmus added that in dire cases, the birds have ravaged all the plants on some farms leaving farmers with nothing to harvest.<\/p>\n

Even though the invasion has left some individual farmers in the district counting losses north of thousands of pula, Erasmus said there is a ray of hope for farmers who planted late after the ploughing season ended at the end of February.<\/p>\n

\u201cFarmers who planted late are expecting to reap bumper harvests. This is notwithstanding the vagaries of the winter season that kills some crops,\u201d Erasmus noted with caution.<\/p>\n

Erasmus also decried the effects of climate change on the farmers\u2019 predicament.<\/p>\n

According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the international impacts of climate change can disrupt food availability, reduce access to food, and affect food quality.<\/p>\n

Giving examples, the agency adds that climate change results in projected increases in temperatures, changes in precipitation patterns, changes in extreme weather events, and reductions in water availability which may all result in reduced agricultural productivity and output.<\/p>\n

Erasmus echoed the EPA\u2019s assessment saying that rain patterns and increased temperatures In Botswana have changed leaving farmers undecided whether to plough or not.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am appealing to farmers and the public to have an input in reducing the emissions of the carbon dioxide into the atmosphere to reduce the effects of climate change,\u201d Erasmus pleaded.<\/p>\n

In February, the chairperson of NEDC Florah Mpetsane bemoaned during a full council meeting that although good rains gave arable farmers hope of a bumper harvest, NEDC experienced calamities that come along with this situation such as high weed and pest infestations, diseases and some dry spell in February.<\/p>\n

“By the closure of the ploughing season on February 15 an estimate of 10,760 hectares had been ploughed and planted. Out of the registered 4,302 farmers, only 3,308 farmers managed to do all ploughing operations,\u201d Mpetsane said. Mpetsane also cried out about the invasion of quelea birds in the district. \u201cRegarding pests and diseases, the district is experiencing quelea birds\u2019 roosts and so far seven colonies have been identified. Plant protection teams are busy out there surveying and controlling them using explosives,\u201d Mpetsane said.<\/p>\n

The infestation was later confirmed by the spokesperson of MADFS in Francistown, Kelebogile Mosarwee.<\/p>\n

Then, Mosarwee added that a technical team from the ministry was on the ground trying to locate where the quelea birds sleep with a view to exterminate them using explosives.<\/p>\n

With the birds\u2019 colonies now destroyed, farmers who ploughed late can now have a breath of fresh air albeit with caution because the weather is unpredictable.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Botswana<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Botswana. In the aftermath of the invasion of quelea birds in the North East District Council (NEDC) that decimated a large portion of planted land, there is light at the end of the tunnel after the Ministry of Agricultural Development and Food Security (MADFS) exterminated the birds. The new development was revealed by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":5968,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8,13,16],"tags":[233,237,234],"class_list":["post-5969","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-homepage-english","category-social","category-twitter","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-botswana","tag-botswana"],"yoast_head":"\nNEDC farmers' double whammy: Quelea birds, climate change - Botswana<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In the aftermath of the invasion of quelea birds in the North East District Council (NEDC) that decimated a large por ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/nedc-farmers-double-whammy-quelea-birds-climate-change\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"NEDC farmers' double whammy: Quelea birds, climate change\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In the aftermath of the invasion of quelea birds in the North East District Council (NEDC) that decimated a large por ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/nedc-farmers-double-whammy-quelea-birds-climate-change\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Botswana\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-04-26T10:41:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-04-26T18:47:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2022\/04\/img-62683e1479cea.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"704\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/nedc-farmers-double-whammy-quelea-birds-climate-change#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/nedc-farmers-double-whammy-quelea-birds-climate-change\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"NEDC farmers’ double whammy: Quelea birds, climate change\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-04-26T10:41:32+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-04-26T18:47:21+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/nedc-farmers-double-whammy-quelea-birds-climate-change\"},\"wordCount\":561,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/nedc-farmers-double-whammy-quelea-birds-climate-change#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2022\/04\/img-62683e1479cea.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Botswana\",\"Botswana\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"homepage-english\",\"Social\",\"twitter\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/nedc-farmers-double-whammy-quelea-birds-climate-change#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/nedc-farmers-double-whammy-quelea-birds-climate-change\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/nedc-farmers-double-whammy-quelea-birds-climate-change\",\"name\":\"NEDC farmers' double whammy: Quelea birds, climate change - 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