Pests

: 19 March 2018; Hits: 7793

FAO launches mobile app to control fall armyworm

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations last week launched a mobile app to combat the fall armyworm menace that has been reported in 44 out of 54 Sub-Saharan African countries including Kenya.

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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The app which runs android smartphones according to FAO will help farmers, researchers and donors better understand the threat posed by the pest.

With the app, farmers can check for the level of infestations in their farm by examining 10 plants in a row in different locations of their farm. In this, the app would enable them mark whether or not the fall armyworm larvae is present in their crops.

The sample data collected will then be uploaded to FAO’s servers where it can be analyzed by researchers, said Keith Cressman, the lead person who developed the app.

fall army worm by BBC

The fall armyworm pest attack on maize

A majority of farmers in Kenya may be able to use the app as the latest report released in March 2018 by e-commerce company Jumia shows that the country has a high adoption rate of smart phones in Africa with the internet penetration at 83 per cent.

In Kenya, 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.

The initial affected counties were Busia, Uasin Gishu, Trans Nzoia, Bungoma, Bungoma and Nandi. By the end of the year 2017, the pest had ravaged approximately 800,000 hectares of crops.

There are also other alternative ways of managing the pest according to FAO. One of them is by field visits to the farm to confirm the status of the crops under cultivation. In this case, a farmer can check for signs and presence of the worm and take action by crushing the eggs and larvae.

Farmers can also conserve and enhance ants in their farms as the insects are important FAW predators.

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: 16 March 2018; Hits: 6885

How to stop CBPP disease killing your herd

Contagious bovine pleuropneumoinia (CBPP) is a cattle disease that is caused by Mycoplasma mycoides with a mortality rate of 50 per cent.

Bovine pleuropneumonia is exhibited by an affected animal standing by itself with its head lowered and extended, the back slightly arched and its limbed turned out.

In many cases, the disease spreads faster and the animal often lies down and in severe cases die after one to three weeks.

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The disease is spread through direct contact between an infected and a vulnerable animal which becomes sick by inhaling droplets of saliva disseminated by coughing.

Affected animals sometimes partially recover after a period of three to four weeks. These animals nevertheless may be capable of spreading the disease by acting as unapparent carriers.

When a farmer notices the above symptoms in their cows, he or she can notify an agricultural extension officer within their region, preferably a veterinary officer. Tests will then be done and appropriate measures such as vaccination recommended.

The disease can be controlled by restricting the movement of animals. This is done by separating the infected animal(s) from the rest of the herd.

Affected animals can also be slaughtered so as to remove the existing concentrations of the disease. This is done through inspection by veterinary officers who conduct serology tests in the affected herd.

vaccination cows

A veterinary officer vaccinationg cows in the past/PHOTO/FILE

CBPP was detected in Europe as early as the 16^th century but was spread throughout the world by increased international trade in live cattle in the second half of the 19^th century.

In Kenya, the disease has affected livestock in Northern and Southern Kenya mainly the pastoralist counties of Wajir, Narok, Laikipia and Garissa killing more than half of the affected animals yearly according to the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO).

In 2007, KALRO developed a thermo-stable vaccine to control CBPP in the country. In this, cattle in the affected zones were vaccinated twice at three monthly intervals and thereafter annually with thermo-stable vaccine.

KALRO report of 2016, however, revealed that although 43.5 per cent of pastoralists were treating CBPP cases with antimicrobials, 12.9 per cent of them had no knowledge of any prevention method and 10 per cent would do nothing in the event of an outbreak. 62.5 per cent of the sampled herders doubted the effectiveness of using thermo-stable vaccine to control the disease. It further revealed that the communities living within the region perceived trans-boundary movement of cattle as a CBPP threat to their cattle.

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: 28 February 2018; Hits: 11365

Seed Co introduces new maize variety tolerant to lethal necrosis disease

Seed Co, a company that develops and markets certified crop seeds, mainly hybrid maize seed has introduced a new maize variety that is tolerant to the maize lethal necrosis disease (MLND).

“The new maize variety KATEH 01 was developed over a period of three years since 2016 by Seed Co in collaboration with the Kenya Agricultural Research Organization and has been approved by the Kenya Plant Inspectorate Service (KEPHIS) but is under multiplication before being released to the market,” said Evans Maranga, a research technician at Seed Co.

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Maize is the staple food crop in Kenya accounting for about 65 per cent of the total food consumption. The new variety therefore comes as a relief for farmers with statistics from the ministry of agriculture indicating that 37.9mbags of maize, majority of these from smallholder farmers were harvested in 2017, a 4.4 per cent drop from the projected 40m bags.

The decline in overall production was attributed to reduction in area under maize by 5.1 per cent, late rainfall onset coupled with long dried spells mid-season, maize lethal necrosis disease and fall army worm invasion.

MLND kills plants before they can grow and the pathogens are usually transmitted by insects or contaminated seed. Some of notable symptoms of this virus in maize include mild severe mottling on the leaves, usually starting from the base of young leaves in the whorl and extending upwards towards the leaf tips.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations reports that the first signs of the disease were reported in Longisa, Bomet County in September 2011 further spreading to other parts such as Nyamira, Kisii, Naivasha, Narok, Trans Nzoia, Uasin Gishu, Busia and parts of Eastern region (Embu and Meru).

The new variety is under trials by farmers in Magwagwa and Bokeira wards of Nyamira County. Initially, farmers in the region planted various maize seed varieties such as H6213 and H614 but lost nearly half of their crops due to MLND according to Thomas Nyamongo, an agricultural extension officer in the area.

“From my own sampling in the region, I have seen farmers who have lost roughly three quarters of their crops due to the disease and had to uproot all the their crops,” said Nyamongo.

seedco

KATEH 01 does well in areas with receiving low rainfall such as Borabu, Trans Mara, Longisa and Emurua Dikirr. It matures within five months with potential yields of 30 to 35 bags per acre.

Seedco can be reached on 0726990624.

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