The quelea birds, a menace to wheat, millet and sorghum farmers, sustain the lives of many villagers in the Lowveld. Farmers trap the birds and sell them to vendors who in turn dry or roast them for sale to consumers, for whom it is a popular and affordable delicacy.
After realising that the business was enjoying a boom, the department recently introduced a monthly quelea bird selling levy of $8 on each trader, sparking an outcry from the vendors who consider it too high.
Amai Lameck Magondo said the levy threatened her business. “We buy a bucket of the birds from farmers for $20. The $8 levy is too high and at this rate, a lot of vendors will soon be out of business,” she said. Another vendor, Loveness Muteya, accused DWMA of ripping off the dealers.
“We do not understand why DWMA is now charging us this levy. When the farmers kill the birds, they are required to pay money to the authority to get permission to do so. Now we are now being charged for selling the same birds which the farmers would have paid for,” complained Muteya.
The dealers incur huge transports costs to travel to the Lowveld to buy the birds. Every year the birds wreak havoc in the Lowveld and other areas countrywide where they feast on ripe sorghum, wheat and millet and barley – often wiping out an entire field in a matter of hours due to the fact that they travel in large numbers.
Post published in: News