Rat catching in South Africa. Validated RNRRS Output.
Abstract
This is one of 280 summaries describing key outputs from the projects run by DFID's 10-year Renewable Natural Resources Research Strategy (RNRRS) programmes.
Summary for Project title: R8190: Technology transfer and promotion of ecologically-based and sustainable rodent control strategies in South Africa and R8441: Rodent management in South Africa.
Cheap, safe methods of controlling rats are now available to villagers in South Africa. New rat traps and an understanding of how and why rats should be controlled helps rural communities protect their stored grain and reduce risks to their health. Rats not only damage and destroy crops but also affect humans—they contaminate water and food with debilitating and even deadly diseases. Safe baits to control rats are ineffective. So, people resort to rat poisons that are very dangerous. Cases of accidental poisoning are common. Rural communities in the Limpopo and North Region of KwaZulu-Natal provinces in South Africa now use traps to control rats. The South African company that produces the traps—a low-cost, break-back design—already can't keep up with demand.
The CD has the following information for this output: Description, Validation, Current Situation, Current Promotion, Impacts On Poverty, Environmental Impact. Attached PDF (18 pp.) taken from the CD.
Citation
CPP62, New technologies, new processes, new policies: tried-and-tested and ready-to-use results from DFID-funded research, Research Into Use Programme, Aylesford, Kent, UK, ISBN 978-0-9552595-6-2, p 104.