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The bioeconomics of controlling an African rodent pest species

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 July 2006

ANDERS SKONHOFT ,
HERWIG LEIRS ,
HARRY P. ANDREASSEN ,
LOTH S.A. MULUNGU  and
NILS CHR. STENSETH
ANDERS SKONHOFT
Affiliation:
Department of Economics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, N-7491 Trondheim, Norway. E-mail: Anders.Skonhoft@SVT.NTNU.NO
HERWIG LEIRS
Affiliation:
Danish Pest Infestation Laboratory, Danish Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Denmark, and Department of Biology, University of Antwerp, Belgium
HARRY P. ANDREASSEN
Affiliation:
Department of Forestry and Wildlife Management, Hedmark University College, Norway and Department of Biology, Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Synthesis (CEES), University of Oslo, Norway
LOTH S.A. MULUNGU
Affiliation:
SUA Pest Management Centre, Sokoine University of Agriculture, Morogoro, Tanzania
NILS CHR. STENSETH
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Synthesis (CEES), University of Oslo, Norway
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Abstract

The paper treats the economy of controlling an African pest rodent, the multimammate rat, causing major damage in maize production. An ecological population model is presented and used as a basis for the economic analyses carried out at the village level using data from Tanzania. This model incorporates both density-dependent and density-independent (stochastic) factors. Rodents are controlled by applying poison, and the costs are made up of the cost of poison plus the damage to maize production. We analyse how the present-value costs of maize production are affected by various rodent control strategies, by varying the duration and timing of rodenticide application. Our numerical results suggest that it is economically beneficial to control the rodent population. In general, the most cost-effective duration of controlling the rodent population is 3–4 months every year, and especially at the end of the dry season/beginning of rainy season. The paper demonstrates that changing from today's practice of symptomatic treatment when heavy rodent damage is noticed to a practice where the calendar is emphasized, may substantially improve the economic conditions for the maize producing farmers. This main conclusion is highly robust and not much affected by changing prices of maize production.

Type
Research Article
Information
Environment and Development Economics , Volume 11 , Issue 4 , August 2006 , pp. 453 - 475
Copyright
2006 Cambridge University Press

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Footnotes

We thank the late Patrick Mwanjabe for several valuable discussions on the pest problem treated in this paper and three referees for valuable comments. AS thanks for support from the Norwegian Science Council. NCS and HPA thank for valuable support from University of Oslo and the Norwegian Science Council. NCS and HL appreciate the EU-support through the STAPLERAT project (ICA4-CT-2000-30029) and the Danish Council for Development Research (RUF). LSM appreciates the support from the SUA-VLIR program.