Invading birds devastate farms in the north

Farmers in northern Nigeria’s Kano State have been hit by an invasion of queelas, tiny birds which swarm farms, eating up leaves and grain, officials said on Tuesday.

“This is the first time queela birds are invading Kano in the past eight years and many farms in the area around Kano city have been devastated,” Adamu Ibrahim, an official of the state’s Ministry of Agriculture, told IRIN.

He said that although indications were that the invasion was just beginning, several of the state’s local government councils had already reported sightings of the birds. “It is likely they will spread in the coming weeks,” he said.

Kano State Commissioner for Agriculture, Yusuf Ado Kibiya, announced last week that more than 700 peasant farms around Kano city had been invaded by queelas.

Officials said their major handicap in dealing with the invasion was that the state lacked helicopters to spray farms with pesticides. The state has appealed for help from federal authorities that have the required equipment, they said.

Kano State is part of Nigeria’s northern grain belt, which produces millet, sorghum, rice and other staples. In the past decade, annual queela invasions had been reported mostly in the northeastern region bordering Cameroon and Chad.

There are fears that the invasion may further undermine Nigeria’s food security in a year in which intense communal clashes in the main agricultural central region has disrupted farming activities.