Optimising rodent control strategies in rural Madagascar to increase agricultural productivity and reduce zoonotic disease risk

优化马达加斯加农村的啮齿动物控制策略，以提高农业生产力并降低人畜共患疾病风险

• 批准号: 1942840
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of Aberdeen
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2017 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-1942840
• 关键词: Optimising; rodent; control; strategies; rural

Across the developing world, food insecurity is greatest in rural areas, where smallholder farms predominate. Effectively reducing crop losses from agricultural pests requires both an understanding of the biological processes linked to loss levels and consideration of the societal and cultural issues impacting on the adoption of potential resistance strategies. Rodent pests contribute significantly to food insecurity due to both pre and post-harvest losses. Globally, rats and mice annually eat and spoil cereals that could feed ~280 million people in developing countries alone. They are also important reservoirs for a range of livestock and human diseases. In some countries in Asia and Africa, increased understanding of processes contributing to variation in rodent pest abundance has led to the successful development of Ecologically Based Rodent Management (EBRM). Experience in SE Asia demonstrates that EBRM targeting community actions at key times of year in specific locations can significantly reduce losses, and emphasises the importance of integrating socio-cultural factors through building on local knowledge, experiential learning and social capital (1).In Madagascar, undernourishment remains a prevalent and persistent problem. Smallholders predominate, with production mainly aimed at domestic subsistence. Rice is the staple food, with both irrigated and pluvial rice cultivation. The black rat, the major rodent pest, is found in all habitats from forest to cultivated areas and villages, and is also a reservoir for zoonoses, including plague. EBRM is not presently practiced in Madagascar and there is an opportunity to develop strategies that improve both food security and human health. Previous studies in Madagascar provide some evidence of how differences in the seasonality of rat reproduction and peak abundance depend on variation in resource availability at local and landscape scales, as well as evidence of movement between habitats (2). However, as the timing of crop damage is crucial to the ultimate impacts on productivity, with rice able to at least partially compensate for damage incurred at some growth stages (3), it is essential to identify the habitats that act as sources of rats at critical times and the scale at which movements between habitats operate. In addition, to maximise the effectiveness and adoption of EBRM, it is important to understand the scale of the losses incurred by smallholders with different cropping practices (e.g. irrigated vs pluvial rice, inter-cropping) and any societal or cultural factors that may act as barriers to acceptability of control options (e.g. labour shortages at key times, fear of disease).This interdisciplinary project will consider EBRM strategies for heterogeneous rural landscapes in Madagascar - with the twin objectives of increasing productivity (through reducing pre and post harvest losses), and reducing the risk from rodent-borne disease. This project will (i) use existing rodent trapping data, remotely sensed data on land-use and local knowledge to produce seasonal risk maps for rodent abundance; (ii) use tri-trophic predator-herbivore-plant models borrowed from population ecology to explore the interactions between rice, rats and humans and identify the key points in the seasonal cycle for high-impact control; (iii) build on existing questionnaire data related to perceptions of rodents, to collect detailed information on what impact rats have, what control/resistance strategies are currently employed and how local networks (e.g. farmer co-operatives) may support any action; (iv) use field experiments to examine movement patterns of rats at key points in the rice growing season and quantify pre and post-harvest losses for smallholders with different cropping practices and (v) with continued participation of local stakeholders and communities integrate the findings to consider how to effectively implement control on the ground.

在整个发展中世界，粮食不安全问题在小农占主导地位的农村地区最为严重。有效减少农业害虫造成的作物损失既需要了解与损失水平相关的生物过程，也需要考虑影响采取潜在抗性战略的社会和文化问题。由于收获前和收获后的损失，啮齿动物害虫对粮食不安全造成了重大影响。在全球范围内，大鼠和小鼠每年吃掉和破坏的谷物足以养活发展中国家约2.8亿人。它们也是一系列牲畜和人类疾病的重要宿主。在亚洲和非洲的一些国家，对导致啮齿动物有害生物丰度变化的过程的了解增加，导致了基于生态的啮齿动物管理（EBRM）的成功发展。东南亚的经验表明，EBRM在一年中的关键时间针对特定地点的社区行动，可以显著减少损失，并强调了通过建立当地知识、体验式学习和社会资本来整合社会文化因素的重要性(1)。在马达加斯加，营养不良仍然是一个普遍和持久的问题。小农占主导地位，生产主要针对国内生存。以水稻为主食，兼有灌溉稻和洪稻栽培。黑鼠是主要的啮齿动物害虫，存在于从森林到耕地和村庄的所有生境中，也是包括鼠疫在内的人畜共患疾病的宿主。马达加斯加目前尚未实行EBRM，有机会制定既改善粮食安全和人类健康的战略。先前在马达加斯加进行的研究提供了一些证据，表明大鼠繁殖的季节性差异和峰值丰度如何取决于当地和景观尺度上资源可用性的变化，以及栖息地之间移动的证据(2)。然而，由于作物受损的时间对生产力的最终影响至关重要，而水稻至少能够部分补偿某些生长阶段所遭受的损害(3)，因此有必要确定在关键时期充当老鼠来源的栖息地以及栖息地之间移动的规模。此外，为了最大限度地提高EBRM的有效性和采用，重要的是要了解采用不同种植方法的小农（例如灌溉稻与雨稻、间作）所遭受的损失规模，以及可能成为可接受控制选择的障碍的任何社会或文化因素（例如关键时期的劳动力短缺、对疾病的恐惧）。这个跨学科项目将考虑针对马达加斯加异质农村景观的EBRM战略，其双重目标是提高生产力（通过减少收获前和收获后的损失）和减少啮齿动物传播疾病的风险。该项目将(i)利用现有的捕鼠数据、土地利用遥感数据和当地知识制作啮齿动物数量的季节性风险地图；（ii）利用借鉴种群生态学的三营养捕食者-草食动物-植物模型，探索水稻、大鼠和人类之间的相互作用，确定季节周期中的关键点，实施高影响控制；（iii）以现有的有关啮齿动物认知的问卷数据为基础，收集有关老鼠的影响、目前采用的控制/抵抗策略以及当地网络（如农民合作社）如何支持任何行动的详细信息；（iv）利用田间实验研究水稻生长季节关键时刻老鼠的移动模式，并量化采用不同种植方式的小农收获前后的损失；(v)在当地利益相关者和社区的持续参与下，综合研究结果，考虑如何在实地有效实施控制。