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    Farm­ers, who fail to fol­low a reg­u­lar ir­rig­a­tion routine, make losses due to the split­ting of the to­ma­toes as a res­ult of stress.

    To­mato fruits crack after a water short­age fol­lowed by a sud­den ex­cess avail­ab­il­ity. Split­ting or crack­ing makes the fruits lose the mar­ket value, be­sides turn­ing into mul­ti­plic­a­tion zones for dis­ease caus­ing patho­gens like bac­teria.

    Ag­ro­nom­ist Obed Ka­moni said the sud­den entry of water in plenty into the cells of the to­mato fruit cause an ab­rupt ex­pan­sion and con­trac­tion of the cells.

    “Fruit cells are like bal­loons. An in­flux of water causes the cells to swell to ac­com­mod­ate the ex­cess volume. Ex­cess volume causes the rup­tur­ing of the skin be­cause it can­not con­tain the sud­den in­crease in volume,” the ag­ro­nom­ist, who works for East African Seed Com­pany, said.

    READ ALSO: Ripe to­ma­toes sold for 30 days

    READ ALSO: Sci­ent­ists use wild to­ma­toes to breed su­per­ior vari­et­ies

    READ ALSO:Former med­ical de­liv­ery man finds mil­lions in tree to­ma­toes

    If one’s routine is ir­rig­at­ing the farm once a week, this timetable should be fol­lowed. The same amount of water has to be ap­plied to about two inches depth if it is done once a week. If it is a daily drip ir­rig­a­tion pro­cess, it should be done so.

    The ir­rig­a­tion timetable is de­term­ined by the weather. For in­stance if drought has set in, wa­ter­ing in­ter­vals have to be in­creased, but in a gradual way to avoid caus­ing the stress.

    An­other prob­lem that can be caused by ir­reg­u­lar wa­ter­ing, the ag­ro­nom­ist said, is the blos­som-end rot.

    Over­wa­ter­ing fol­lowed by un­der­wa­ter­ing causes a fluc­tu­ation of the cal­cium con­cen­tra­tion in the fruits, lead­ing to the ‘scotched’ patches at the base of the fruits.

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    By George Munene

    Global fast food chain Kentucky Fried Chicken, KFC, has said that it is ready to on-board Kenyan potato suppliers given they meet its strict expectations in quality and safety.

    Following a Monday announcement by the American franchise that it had ran out of French fries, many Kenyans were aghast to learn that in a country where up to 30,000 acres of land are under potato production and the farm gate price of a 90kg bag of the tuber hit a low of Sh500 this year, it imports most of its potato from Egypt. 
    In the wake of #BoycottKFC, a twitter trend that went on for the better part of Tuesday, the firm’s chief executive for East Africa Jacques Theunissen told the press, “Although we currently import our French fries, there is an opportunity to source the potatoes from a local supplier that meets the global KFC quality and safety specifications in the near future.” 
    The National Potato Council of Kenya CEO Wachira Kaguongo said that KFC’s decision to re-examine their earlier stand on local supply of potatoes presents a great opportunity for Kenya farmers who have been lobbying to supply the franchise with potatoes and don’t mind meeting their set standards.
     
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    Farmers can control red mites attack on vegetables by growing the hairy African nightshade, commonly called managu, along orchard borders after a research revealed that the crop ends the reproduction cycle of the pest.

    Red mite susceptible crops include gooseberry, bitter apple, tomato, eggplant potato, among others.

    The mites can destroy up to 80 per cent of the crop. The destruction can be 100 per cent during hot weather when reproduction of the pests is high.

    International Centre for Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE) researcher Dr. Lucy Kananu said the hairy variety, secretes chemicals that prevent the red tomato spider mites from laying eggs.

    The black night shade leaves have a sweet scent that attracts the pests. After landing, the same leaves release an odor that interferes with the reproduction, therefore, terminating the pest.

    “When the mites reach the leaf’s surface, the ‘small hairs’, scientifically known as trichomes, trap the pests, hence hindering further movement.”

    “Additionally, the disturbance caused by the mites on the leaf surface triggers the glandular tips, or the ‘succulent lobes’, of these hairs, to crack. The cracked lobes then release secretions that contain foul smelling chemicals that prevent the pests from laying eggs, thereby breaking their reproduction cycle,” Said Dr. Kananu, who is the lead author of the study.

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    In protecting other susceptible crops in the Solanaceae family, Dr Kananu advocates growing the hairy nightshade along the border or around the crop of interest to act as a death trap for the mites.

    In 2017 for instance, Kenya’s fresh produce to the EU was intercepted 29 times due to harmful organisms in a crackdown that makes it difficult for Kenya to be removed from the European Union’s quality watch list.

    This is one of the practical methods of controlling pests as the consumers, especially international markets, drift toward organic farming dues to risks associated with chemical pesticide residues. 

    Prof Baldwyn Torto, who supervised the ICIPE research, said the discovery is a key step in uncovering more environmental friendly ways of managing the pest in crop production.

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