Pests

: 12 July 2018; Hits: 8217

Agriculture ministry launches SMS platform to enable farmers receive Fall Armyworm alerts

The Kenyan ministry of agriculture has launched an SMS (short message service) platform to enable farmers countrywide to receive Fall Armyworm alerts directly on their mobile phones without necessarily seeking the information from government offices.

The platform was developed by Precision Agriculture for Development in collaboration with Safaricom, Kenya’s telecommunication company, and allows farmers to send messages to 40130.

In this, farmers will receive timely information on monitoring, identification, non-chemical and chemical control measures including best practices for free.

The platform has been piloted in Western Kenya where 1.4m Safaricom users have been invited to start using it.

KALRO lists recommended insecticides to control Fall Armyworm

Government organization encourages Uasin Gishu farmers to plant potatoes instead of maize due to Fall Armyworm infestation

fall armyworm spraying

Farmers spraying maize to control Fall Armyworm menace. Photo: courtesy

The Fall Armyworm was first detected in Western Kenya in March 2017 and was confirmed by the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization and the Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service

Over 800,000 hectares of crops mainly maize was affected and destroyed by the pest last year in Kenya’s bread basket of Trans Nzoia, Uasin Gishu, Nandi, Busia, Kakamega, Kericho, Nandi, Bomet, Narok, West Pokot, Siaya, Kwale and counties in the central region.

As a result, maize production dropped from 37m bags in 2016 to 32m bags in 2017 according to statistics from the ministry of agriculture.

A research body, the Center for Agriculture and Biosciences International (CABI) has warned that the African continent stands to lose between eight and 20m tonnes of maize in 2018 if the pest is not properly managed.

The pest feeds on more than 80 crops, but prefers maize and can cut yields by up to 60 per cent. The female lays up to 1,000 eggs in her lifetime and can fly 100km per night.

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: 11 July 2018; Hits: 10162

Farmer applies pigs’ manure in celery farming to keep off moles

Celeries in part of Kenneth Gikinya's quarter farm in in Kibichiku, ower Kabete in Kiambu County. He uses pigs' manure to keep moles off the farm.

A horticulture farmer in Kibichiku, Lower Kabete in Kiambu County has turned to pigs’ manure in growing celery to eradicate moles and other rodents after finding the method to be cheap and safe for use as compared to long time staying in his farm to time the rodents and hit them when they start destroying the crop.

Kenneth Gikinya who also grows lettuce, spring onions, arrowroots, kales and broccoli on rotation on his quarter acre farm could lose over Sh1,500 every season to the moles which destroy crops by feeding on the roosts or pulling them down for leaves before he discovered the new method after visiting a fellow farmer who was using the method.

“Moles made me incur huge losses every season by destroying at least ten plants. Sometimes I tried setting traps which were ineffective leaving me with an option of staying all day in the farm to time them and kill them when I notice their operations,” said Gikinya.

“This has since come to pass once I started using pigs’ manure, a technique which I learn from a fellow farmer in the neighbourhood.”

He bought the manure from a farmer and started using it and he was perplexed at the first time when he realised the moles had disappeared from the farm.

According to Gikinya, although the manure does not kill the rodents, it repels them as moles do not like the smell of pig manure.

Moles can also destroy up to 50 per cent of other plants such as Irish and sweet potatoes among others because their food storage is in the roots. Apart from attacking the storage organs and weakening the rooting system, they pull the leaves into their holes.

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When Farmbiz Africa team visited Gikinya’s farm last week, the farmer was busy applying a fungicide to keep his celery safe from the wet season which affects the crops.

“Celeries are very prone to blight which affect their leaves reducing production of the crop and further making them undesirable by buyers,” said Gikinya.

In a moth time he will be harvesting the crops. His markets inclide Ngara nd and City Market in Nairobi where he get his buyers from.

“A week to harvesting I always inform the traders as I have their numbers to come for the produce, this makes me solve my transport challenges.”

He sells celery at Sh150 a kilogram me while lettuce and onions goes at between Sh20 and Sh25 depending on the market demand.

Gikinya can be reached on +254725939522.

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: 10 July 2018; Hits: 6873

Understanding East Coast fever in animals

East Coast Fever cattle vaccination

Many smallholder farmers in various parts of the country which receive much rainfall such as Muranga, Laikipia, Kakamega, Narok, Kiambu and Kisii among other places every year experience tremendous losses to East Coast Fever (ECF), a disease which causes fever, enlarged lymph nodes, anorexia, laboured breathing, corneal opacity, nasal discharge, diarrhoea and anaemia in animals.

According to the Global Alliance for Livestock Veterinary Medicines (GALVmed), ECF which is caused by protozoa Theileria parva has a fatality rate of 100 per cent in cattle from on–endemic areas if untreated. Morbidity rate is 100% among indigenous cattle, but the mortality rate is usually low.

There are about 50 million cattle at risk (with 10 million calves per annum) and the total yearly cost of the disease is estimated to be US $596 million, according to GALVmed.

The disease whose incubation period is 12 months is transmitted by ticks which are acting as biological vectors. It is transmitted to animals through saliva of the feeding tick. Transmission can also occur via reused needles or animals that have survived the infection.

ECF causes high loss of milk and meat production especially during wet season when there is an all-time increase in tick population.

“Due to the lethal nature of the disease, scientists have been working round the clock to find vaccine that will help farmers deal with this menace,” wrote Dr Moses Olum, veterinary surgeon, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine University of Nairobi.

Experts from Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organisation (KALRO) and the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) launched a nationwide ECF vaccine in 2012 in Kitale which ended up in field trials in various parts of the country where 1.3 million heads of cattle were vaccinated.

The disease which is spread in sub-Saharan Africa had its vaccine found by KALRO and ILRI experts in 2015 and used in Kenya and Tanzania.

The ECF vaccine is now commercially available and widely used by most farmers in East Africa though the vaccine was first rejected in Uganda.

ILRI is now working closely with GALVmed to fast-track adoption of proven technologies and vaccines where livestock vaccinators will be trained ahead of upcoming vaccination exercise of one million heads of cattle.

According to experts, the vaccine employs the ‘infection and treatment method’ that involves infecting cattle with a ‘cocktail’ of live parasites and simultaneously treating them with a long-lasting antibiotic. This ‘live vaccine’ method generates life-long immunity to East Coast fever.

The vaccine is packed in straws of 10 or 40 doses and has to be transported in liquid nitrogen just like semen. It is reconstituted with a diluent and should be used within two hours of preparation.

Farmers and veterinary officers alike are advised to adhere to antibiotic withdrawal periods for milking animals and the only animals vaccinated against ECF are cattle since they are the only ones affected.

The vaccine offers protection to up to 98 per cent of animals vaccinated and it provides immunity for a lifetime.

It is is produced for commercial use by KALRO and ILRI and according to Director of Veterinary Services, animal service providers who want to offer ECF vaccinations must undergo a one week practical training at the Veterinary Research Institute in Muguga, from which they receive a certificate.

University of Nairobi Clinical Studies Department in Kabete and other private entities such as Sidai Africa and Vet Aid provide the service.

Since the vaccine is administered concurrently with an antibiotic, the cost is higher than other vaccines varying between Sh700 and Sh1,000 depending on the weight of the animal. Any animal can be vaccinated while calves can only be vaccinated from three months old and small scale farmers are advised to be in groups to manage the cost.

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