Cooperator: Danilo Valencia G.
Country: Colombia

 Rodent control in coconut plantations on San Andres
 Island (Colombia):

The Vertebrate Damage Control Project of the Instituto Colombiano
Agropecuario (ICA), in collaboration with other official entities, has
been carrying out a series of studies aimed at obtaining information
relative to damage caused by the black rat (R. rattus) in coconut
plantations on San Andres Island. The principal results obtained from
these studies can be summarized as follows:

1. Anticoagulant rodenticides, placed directly in the crown of the
palm will give good control for up to 6 months after a single
treatment.

2. The major damage caused by rats occurs in the southern end of the
island and especially at lower elevations.

3. The technique of placing metal bands on the trunks of the palms,
to prevent rats from climbing, does not give good protection because
the palms are less than 6 m apart. This permits the rats to travel
from palm to palm via overlapping fronds.

A field day was held during which the advantages of a control program
were explained to the growers. Instructions, recommendations, demon-
strations, and information about the ICA rodent control program were
disseminated during meetings with agricultural and community organi-
zations and by means of television and radio programs.

ICA mounted a rodent control campaign on the island in November 1978.
Initial evaluations of this program will be made during the first
trimester of 1979.

ICA initiated studies of rodent damage in coconut plantations during
1971 in cooperation with the AID-sponsored international programs of
the Denver Wildlife Research Center. Results of this initial work in
Colombia and subsequent long-term evaluations of the methodology by
DWRC and Philippine biologists at the National Crop Protection Center
(Los Baios, Philippines) clearly show that long-term reduction of rat
damage with excellent economic return can be achieved.

5 This summary adapted from a report to the Denver Wildlife Research
Center.