Our rodent management research team has helped increase rice yields, reduce environmental damage and improve farm profits in Asia and Australia.
Introduction
CSIRO research on rodent management is developing ecologically-based methods of managing rodent pests with a focus on key rice-growing regions of South-East Asia.
By identifying factors that influence rodent pest populations CSIRO's rodent research team devise sustainable management strategies to significantly reduce their economic and social impacts.
Background
Rodent pests are one of the main causes of rice losses throughout Asia.
In Indonesia and Vietnam, pre-harvest losses are a chronic problem, often resulting in chemical or poison use by farmers.
Farmers in South-East Asia have indicated that rodents are the problem they have least control of and it is not uncommon for families or villages to lose more than 50 per cent of their crop to rats.
The average yield loss to rice annually throughout the South-East Asia region is 15 per cent.
It is not uncommon for families or villages in South-East Asia to lose more than 50 per cent of their crop to rats.
CSIRO has been working in Vietnam and Indonesia through an Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) funded project to address this issue.
Progress in better managing rodent problems has occurred through research focusing on:
-
understanding the ecology of the pest species, and identifying management approaches that target rodent population cycles
-
working closely with farmers on the ground in a number of countries
-
scaling out management strategies that are sustainable in the long term.
CSIRO has been influential in developing and implementing ecologically-based methods for integrated management of rodent pests in South-East Asia.
Ecologically-based rodent management (EBRM) relies on understanding the ecology of rats and using this knowledge to apply community actions.
The type of community actions (CA) that can be applied are synchronised cropping, field and village hygiene, rat hunts at key times and applying a Community Trap Barrier System (CTBS).
The CTBS involves erecting a plastic fence with rat traps enclosing a small area of early planted rice.
Current activities
At first, research focused on a group of trial project sites.
Now the current focus of the project is:
-
to encourage adoption of EBRM in neighbouring villages and districts
-
further scaling out of management strategies that are sustainable in the long term
-
quantify the significant adoption and dissemination of EBRM that has occurred.
Key results
The research resulted in some key findings:
-
approximately 40 training activities conducted in Vietnam and Indonesia with an estimated 4 000 farmers trained
-
farmers are effectively managing rodents through community action rather than through individual actions
-
community trap barrier systems (CTBS) have been used effectively when rodent populations and damage were high
-
economic benefits have occurred through famers sharing the cost of community action and materials
-
the level of rodent damage to rice crops has been reduced to less than 4 per cent loss
-
use of rodenticides has decreased by 62-90 per cent in Vietnam and there has been a reduction of use of sump oil and insecticide in Indonesia
-
knowledge transfer to farmers
-
collaboration between Australian and South-East Asian researchers.
Achievements
A history of research results
From 1983, CSIRO research provided a better understanding of the processes leading to mouse plagues and how mice use different habitats at different stages of plague formation.
This ecological work took a suitable balance between long and short-term research, with knowledge gained underpinning further CSIRO research on mouse plague management and other rodent management in Australia and overseas.
This knowledge and added experience from working with growers, agricultural departments and other researchers from around Australia and from overseas continues to be used within our on-going research on rodent management in South-East Asia.
Research outputs
For over 20 years, rodent management research projects have provided scientific publications and critical knowledge covering both Australia and South-East Asia in the areas of:
-
mouse plague ecology
-
ecological modelling and tools
-
farm management best practices
-
approaches to managing rats in urban areas.
Knowledge development for farmers and land managers (such as from newsletters) has been an additional important outcome from the work with other achievements including:
-
several books covering practical methods for sustainable rodent management
-
decision support software
-
information and advice relating to plague predictions.
Partners
The team works in close association with several research institutes in South-East Asia, such as the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) via the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR).
Previous project collaborations have involved:
Find out more about CSIRO work in Pest Management.
Site Map | Legal Notice and Disclaimer | Privacy | Copyright | Last updated: 31 May 2005
