HeroRATS

HeroRATS provide a service to demining operators. A manual deminer can clear +/- 50sqm per day, while three rats scan a suspected 100 sqm box in 1,5 hour. By deploying rats, the output of demining programs can be enhanced, while reducing operational costs and creating income for APOPO and their employees.
The closest competition for HeroRATS are landmine detection dogs. Comparable in speed and accuracy, HeroRATS compete with the dogs on the aspects of: initial investment, operational costs, sustainability and applicability in an African environment.
Initial training investment: A fully trained mine detection dog is an expensive asset (20.000 - 40.000 USD). Usually, a trainer doesn’t train more then two dogs per day, while rats are less bonding and depending on their trainers. A rat trainer can train up to 15 animals per day. In general, the training of a mine detection dog starts at 1,5 year and takes about 1,5-2 years. A rat is trained from the age of 6 weeks and finalizes training after one year.
Operational costs: these are almost comparable for dogs and rats, but rats have less requirements in terms of food, maintenance, and medical care. Rats also require less space, which makes kennel facilities and transport cheaper. Cost/efficiency analysis shows that animal detection in demining programs should cost less then 1$/sqm to be competitive with manual deminers. APOPO can render service for 0,76$/sqm. Most dog programs work at 0,9$/sqm.
Sustainability: Training dogs requires higher problem solving skills then training rats. Also, giant pouched rats are an indigenous species in Sub Saharan Africa, completely adapted to the environment and climate. Dog programs face the challenge of tropical diseases, with a high risk of loss of investment, if no permanent veterinary follow-up can be guaranteed.
Applicability: both animals have complementary features, and are of specific use in different stages of the demining process. Rats are good in pinpointing mines in high density minefields. Exactly locating mines in high density minefields is often a problem for mine detection dogs. Also, rats are too light to set of land mines. In Africa dogs will merely indicate boundaries of minebelts. From there manual deminers take over. There is thus a real market niche for HeroRATS, without outranging the existing dog work.

The market for humanitarian demining is relatively small. Humanitarian demining is in itself not a rentable business (in contrary to commercial demining, which often applies more flexible standards). It is mainly funded through bilateral and multilateral development co-operation. APOPO has funding to demonstrate HeroRATS performances to demining operators. APOPO got support from the Flemish Government for the dissemination of the technology in Mozambique. In order to have a real impact on demining in Africa, APOPO needs to deliver service to many more customers in additional countries. Recently, the International Conference for the Great Lakes Region has adopted APOPO technology as a priority project, in the 11 involved African countries. This paves the road for HeroRATS to enter the demining theatre on a larger scale. It will be a long-term process, getting foot on the ground with demining operators in all these countries. After an initial free demonstration phase (usually one year), the partnering NGO can chose to engage HeroRATS. So far, already 4 co-operation agreements with demining NGO’s in Mozambique have been established. The NGO’s execute the demining task, from survey of suspected area to opening of cleared minefields. Within this process, there is a specific task for HeroRATS. Successfully establishing more co-operation links will further depend on APOPO’s networking and support from international agencies like the GICHD, and on the continuous quality of the delivered services. APOPO is renown as a solid and reliable partner. The external support is present, and APOPO keeps on extending its network.
There is no real competition (yet). To tackle the complex landmine problem, any additional tool is very welcome. The closest competitor for HeroRATS are mine detection dogs (see higher). Seen their different features and different applicability, HeroRATS are rather complementary to, then outranging mine detection dogs, since they are mostly deployed at different stages in the demining process.

APOPO has already over 100 employees in Tanzania and Mozambique combined. Their living standard directly increases through the use of their know how. Experienced HeroRAT handlers, trained in Tanzania, are sent abroad to Mozambique, to deploy their expertise in the field. They enjoy high salaries according to local standards. APOPO initiated the creation of a sustainable human capacity of animal trainers in the region. APOPO’s experience demonstrates that the learning of training techniques is accessible even for people with a low literacy level. Training of rats requires less skills then training of dogs. Already 3 Mozambican handlers were trained in the central traning and research centre in Morogoro, Tanzania. In the GLR process, APOPO aims at standardizing the training package to be able to train bigger groups of people from different countries, and transfer know how on a larger scale.
In terms of living standards, humanitarian demining results in the recovery of road networks, infrastructure, habitats and access to farmland. It directly influences quality of life for the affected indigenous populations, which are often displaced. Demining recovers abandoned land and stimulates sanitation of the environment. Through sustainable growth in human capacity, that has acquired the training know how, a multiplier effect occurs in the services of HeroRATS to the humanitarian demining community, increasing the overall output and impact of the humanitarian demining effort. This effect is anticipated in the short to middle long-term.
As a spin-off, APOPO has started to investigate the possibilities to use HeroRATS as a rapid screening test for the early detection of human Tuberculosis. This application was put as a priority, because of the TB epidemic that, in combination with HIV/AIDS, is growing out of control in Tanzania, and many other African countries. The first research results look very promising: proof of principle is provided, but a few more years of product development will be required before the technology reaches a similar operational level as the demining technology. Many additional spin-offs are possible: screening of cargo, airport security, environmental detection of toxins and pollutants. The current pioneering work in landmine detection creates a sustainable base of local know-how for further development of these additional applications in the long term.