Quella Bird Invades Farm Land In 11 Local Govt Areas Of Jigawa State, Destroys Farm Produces Worth Billions Of Naira

Umar Akilu Majeri

Thousands of Quella birds have invaded farmlands and destroyed millions of farm produce in eleven local government areas of Jigawa state.

According to the report, the federal government in collaboration with the Jigawa state government has commenced aerial spraying in Auyo local government area of Jigawa state.

The Zonal Coordinator and Pest Control of the federal ministry of Agriculture, Alhaji Abba Ghana made this known while speaking to reporters recently in Auyo local government area of the state.

Gana who was represented by a Director in the ministry, Abubakar Abdullah said the objective of the aerial spraying exercise is to reduce the population of Quella birds destroying farm produces and control other trans-border pests in the country.

According to him, the exercise will last for two weeks in eleven local government areas of the state that is likely to be attacked by these birds considering their proximity to Nigeria/Niger Republic borders.

Also speaking, the Special Adviser to Jigawa state Governor on community and inclusion, Alhaji Hamza Mohammed Hadejia said the aerial spray was in response to the rice farmers’ complaints about the invasion of the Quella birds.

He, however, pointed out that the invasion of Quella birds and flooding have been major challenges farmers are battling for many years.

Hamza Hadejia noted that “since the inception of the present administration, improving Agriculture remains the main concern of the federal and state governments to boost food production and economy of the country”.

He said both federal and state governments have taken measures to curtail or reduced some of the major challenges being experienced by the farmers annually, including pest control, spraying of quelea birds, and desilting of waterways under TRIMMING project along rivers Hadejia and Jama’re.

Indeed, local rice farmers at Gatafa village in Auyo Local government area of Jigawa state said the invasion of Quella birds has been a major challenge threatening rice production in the state.