RIU action

Rat Management for Rural Communities 1) Training and capacity building of institutions 2) Training and capacity building of communities 3) Local production & marketing of new rat traps 4) Communication & awareness raising 5) Policies & recommendations

Rat management project in 5 districts ComillaBograKushtiaSatkhiraNetrokona

Beneficiaries Project will work directly with 20,000 households across 100 communitiesProject will work directly with 20,000 households across 100 communities Women will be the major beneficiaries > 70%Women will be the major beneficiaries > 70%

Partner roles align with national programmes and strategies Extension Commercial & private enterprise Technical input Training & communication

Training and capacity building

1) 25 people from each community trained 2) Trained people return to their villages to tell rest of community what should be done 3) Partners visit communities to explain community trapping programme, assist demonstration of environmental management actions, obtain agreement on intensive trapping programme 4) Intensive trapping programme begins 5) Partners revisit communities to collect monitoring data, feedback, re-training needs…. Training and capacity building

Monitoring of knowledge retention and uptake Trained people assessed at end of training and 6 months later using FGD and individual questionnaires Non-trained community members assessed 3-4 months after return of trained members. This is done with a FGD of 25 people – all of which should not come from households with trained community members Training and capacity building

Community intensive trapping programme 25% of households trapping at any given time RIU action

Community intensive trapping programme 25% of households trapping at any given time RIU action

Community intensive trapping programme 25% of households trapping at any given time RIU action

Community intensive trapping programme 25% of households trapping at any given time RIU action

Community intensive trapping programme 25% of households trapping at any given time RIU action

Community intensive trapping programme 25% of households trapping at any given time RIU action

Community intensive trapping programme 25% of households trapping at any given time RIU action

Community intensive trapping programme 25% of households trapping at any given time RIU action

Community intensive trapping programme 25% of households trapping at any given time RIU action

Community intensive trapping programme 25% of households trapping at any given time Village Managers set traps every day in the evening and collect/count rodents caught in the morning Managers move traps to new households every 7 days, i.e. monthly rotation Managers monitor impact of trapping to rat population and people’s livelihoods on a monthly basis Community buys the traps RIU action

Community intensive trapping programme 50% of individual households trapping RIU action

Manufacturing a locally made kill trap New design traps are better RIU action

Traps are produced for EBRM project and national market using distribution via rodenticide retailers Cost of trap will depend on production scale Production scale will depend on demand Demand will depend on perceived efficacy, ease of use & durability in comparison to alternatives Price of trap? Initial EBRM needs? 100 villages needing atleast 100 traps each = 10,000 traps minimum RIU action

Trap success of intensive trapping

MonthOverall trap success Captures per house April May June July August September October November December January February

Three methods will be used Monitoring community actions Farmer diaries Loss, damage, contamination of stored food Rodent populations (three methods)

Five farmers in a group Male and female groups Group leaders to manage Meeting once a week NGO staff, managers and Key Informants to oversee process Everyone to be given a diary in all communities Sub-sample of diaries used for analysis Farmer Diaries

Baseline socio-economic data Cost and time spent repairing rodent damage Cost, time and result of rodent control actions People bitten by rats Farmer Diaries

Recording information on time and money spent related to rodent damage, repairs and rodent management activities

InterventionNo intervention {{ Farmer Diaries

InterventionNo intervention {{ Farmer Diaries

Households in Jakunipara (intervention village) involved in recording various repair activities within a farmer diary. Activities coincided with the commencement of village-wide intensive trapping of rodents

Households in the village of Anandapur (non-intervention village) involved in recording various repair activities within a farmer diary

InterventionNo intervention {{ Farmer Diaries

InterventionNo intervention {{ Farmer Diaries

Monitoring stored food losses Villagers usually notice rodent damage to stored food more easily than compared to field crops Rodent contamination is often obvious in stored grain, damage to store structures Less appreciation of actual loss (underestimation)

Methods 8 kg of rice in a basket Placed individually in farmer stores, 10 households per community Five communities per region per year Two-week interval to measure basket weight, and contamination, damaged grains, moisture content to rice in basket and in the farmer’s own rice store

175 g sub-sample taken, and the droppings categorised by size and shape for the three main species trapped in households Mus musculus Bandicota benegalensis Rattus rattus Methods

Damaged rice measured by taking two lots of 100 rice grains from the 175 g sub-sample, counting number of rodent-damaged grains to obtain a percentage Methods

Mean monthly rates of contamination, damage and loss caused by rodents to baskets of rice placed in farmer stores (n=30) in the village of Anandapur

Linear regression of data collected from the mean values of four villages over four months (Jan-04 to Apr-04) comparing temporal changes in rodent damage and weight loss

Loss rate of rice removed from baskets by rodents between sampling periods in the village of Anandapur. Each data point represents the amount of rice removed by rodents every fortnight.

Non-linear regression best-fit model to data generated from the rate loss data calculated from 64 baskets of rice in household grain stores over four months (Jun-04 to Sep-04)

Linear regression of damaged rice in baskets against the damaged rice in the farm store farm = * basket, R² = 0.92

Linear regression of rodent droppings in baskets against the rodent droppings in the farm store farm = * basket, R² = 0.90

Analysis summary Loss, damage and contamination of rice in basket are correlated Regression of basket vs. farm damage or contamination shows high R values and slopes As we can only calculate a daily loss rate from the basket, the above suggests the loss rate should be similar between basket and farm store

Loss rate from basket does not significantly change over time. This is used to calculate amount of rice lost from the farm store over time Analysis summary

Effect of intensive trapping on the estimated amount of rice eaten by rodents from farmer’s own grain stores, comparing two villages that have been intensively trapping rodents against two villages that have not trapped

Three methods will be used Rodent population monitoring Tracking tiles - house Kill trapping - house Active burrow counting - field Each method implemented in 2 of the 5 communities trained in each district each year One community will have two kinds of monitoring and should be the largest village

Tracking tiles as a monitoring tool

Protocol Tracking tiles as a monitoring tool Implemented in 2 communities in each district, each year 10 households in each community Two tiles per house Tiles placed 4 consecutive nights each month, one up high & one low in households not currently trapping

Tracking tiles as a monitoring tool

Rodents are too clever to be controlled and become trap shy / poison shy Tracking tiles as a monitoring tool Allows easy understanding of changes in rodent population dynamics Reduces need for dead bodies Efficacy of chronic poisons observed Encourages monitoring & evaluation

POSITIONCONTROLSTREATMENTS AnandapurSahapurJakuniparaSowara GroundMusmean43.1%71.9%50.0%40.6% sdev22.7%11.4%10.2%3.7% Ratsmean56.9%56.3%21.3%21.9% sdev6.6%27.3%13.6%7.5% Suncusmean48.1%48.8%10.6%11.3% sdev12.6%32.3%9.4%10.9% ElevatedMusmean61.3%70.6%38.8%41.3% sdev14.4%21.8%4.3%12.0% Ratsmean26.9%53.1%13.8%16.3% sdev5.5%31.3%13.1%5.2% Suncusmean0000 sdev0000

Protocol Kill trapping as a monitoring tool Implemented in 2 communities in each district, each year 10 households in each community Two traps per house Traps placed 4 consecutive nights each month in households not currently involved in community trapping

Trap success (%) Trap nights Mus musculus Rattus rattus Bandicota benegalensis Suncus murinusTotal Sowara (treatment) Jakunipara (treatment) Anandapur (control) Sahapur (control)

Protocol Active burrow counting as a monitoring tool Implemented in 2 communities in each district, each year Done twice – once before harvest, once after harvest Field selection 5 fields within metres of village, each roughly 0.5 hectares Close up burrows Come back to see which ones opened on three occasions (assess day 1, day 4, day 7)

Rat Management for Rural Communities Funded by Lead organisation Project partners

Partner training – completed Selection of villages 15 total and 5 for first year Social & physical mapping. This is your baseline survey At same time you can do the selection of 25 people from each village (minimum 70% women) for the training. Involve Teachers, Union or Upazila Leaders, Religious leaders or other important people who are respected in the village. Planning our activities

Training of 25 farmers per village will start in October. This may take up to mid- November. NGO staff visit trained communities 2-3 weeks later for a community meeting to discuss rodent management options. If community agrees to EBRM, traps are distributed and 25% trap rotation programme starts (including all the monitoring and data collection activities!). Trapping likely to start around late November or early December. Planning our activities