Alternatives to fenthion for quelea bird control – Webinar: Concept note and agenda
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The red-billed quelea (Quelea quelea Linnaeus) is the most important avian pest of small grain crops in semi-arid zones in Africa. It feeds principally on native grasses but when these are scarce the birds will attack the seed heads of crops like millet, sorghum, wheat, and rice. The average quelea bird eats around 10 grams of grain per day, so a flock of two million can devour as much as 20 tons of grain in a single day. With an estimated adult breeding population of at least 1.5 billion, FAO estimates the agricultural losses attributable to the quelea in excess of 50 million USD annually. At present, control is mostly by aerial and/or ground-spraying of organophosphate avicides, with fenthion being the pesticide of choice.
The Chemicals Review Committee (CRC) recommended fenthion to be listed in Annex III to the Rotterdam Convention as a Severely Hazardous Pesticide Formulation (SHPF) in the form of ultra low volume (ULV) formulations at or above 640 g active ingredient/L) based on human health incidents under conditions of use in the proposing Party caused by these pesticide formulations.
The Rotterdam Convention Secretariat has implemented several activities to raise awareness on health and environment hazard of fenthion and to encourage research and identification of alternatives to this avicide for quelea bird control.
Jointly with the FAO Subregional Office for Southern Africa, and the FAO Pest and Pesticide Management Team, the Secretariat helped to implement the project entitled ‘Promoting sound pest and pesticides management.