Pests

: 21 April 2016; Hits: 15646

Tithonia flowers used to make home-made pesticides in Kitale

In December 2015 as I visited my rural home, which is a few kilometers from Kitale town, one thing caught my attention: a well trimmed hedge made of tithonia flowers surrounding my mother's farm. Strolling in the village later that day, I noticed that almost every homestead had the same fence and as I later discovered, enterprising farmers have found a way of using extracts from the flower variously as a fodder crop, nitrogen fixer, biological pesticide and as folia manure.
In most Kenyan dialects, the name of the tithonia flower revolves around its bitter test- ‘maruru’ in Kikuyu, ‘mauamakech’ in Luo, and ‘amaua amalulu’ in Luhya.
According to the World Agroforestry Centre (known as the International Centre for Research in Agroforestry, ICRAF before 2002), tithonia contains more nutrients than synthetic fertilizers.
The centre says the flower's dry matter has an average of 3.17 per cent nitrogen and 3.20 per cent potassium.
It also contains 0.3 per cent phosphorus and 2 per cent calcium- all of these are key nutrients lacking in most of the arable land in Kenya.
To use tithonia as manure, a farmer just needs to cut the leaves and soft branches and let them decompose for a few weeks before using the collected fertiliser during planting.
Farmers can also squeeze tithonia leaves to obtain its bitter liquid, which can be applied on vegetables as pesticides and insecticides. Jane Minage, a kale farmer in Moi Farm Village, says she has reliably dealt with aphids using pesticide collected from tithonia leaves.
Procedure
To make the biological pesticide, Minage harvests Tithonia leaves and branches and grinds them using a huge mortar and pestle.
She then adds water to the paste before sieving to obtain a clear liquid. For every 17kg bucket of tithonia paste, she adds five liters of water.
"Although it is a tedious exercise, the end results are worth it," said the farmer, who supplies kale to residents of both Amagoro and Moi Farm villages in Moi’s Bridge.
Besides cutting production costs in using the extracts, Minage says the vegetables are free of chemicals.
Tithonia is grown from cuttings, which are placed in soil at a 45-degree angle. It is a hardy plant and can grow well even during dry seasons. The crop can also be fed to goats in addition to its use as a fertiliser and pesticide.

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: 21 April 2016; Hits: 7837

Eldoret artist earns Sh2000 a day selling scarecrows to farmers

An enterprising 32-year-old man in Moi’s Bridge is making up to Sh2000 a day from making and selling 'running' scarecrows. A recent study by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). showed that crop farmers in the region have been losing up to 20 per cent and 80 per cent of their crop to bird and animal damage respectively.
Using plastic paper and banana fibre, Ernest Bowen molds light weight scarecrows which are then loosely tied on to supporting sticks across farms using tapes harvested from old video and radio cassettes, such that when blown by wind, they blow around, in the form of a running person, scaring away birds and animals.
Loved
His creations are fast-becoming popular with farmers in the area, who have traditionally been physically guarding their farmlands to chase away monkeys, squirrels, weaver birds among others especially when crops are sprouting and yielding.
According to Daniel Wafula, whose maize farm boarders a thicket near River Nzoia, squirrels and monkeys usually attack his maize, forcing him to stand guard all day and night.
Wafula hailed Bowen’s artistic solution to the problem saying that it is practical and efficient.
"It also helps minimize the animal-human conflict which often results in deaths and injuries,’’ said Wafula.
Wafula lamented that in 2013, monkeys destroyed almost two-thirds of the maize in his two-acre farm, leading to huge loses.
Production
In a week, Bowen makes up to 100 scarecrows which he sells at between Sh70-150 in Kitale and adjacent towns. He personally collects plastic paper from dumping sites in the area and old cassette tapes from individuals and music stores that have no use for them.
Bowen, who has been living on this business for the past four years after losing his job as a supermarket attendant in Eldoret in 2011, explained that his business normally booms between April and December, a maize production season in Rift valley and Western Kenya.
More marketing
This year, Bowen is eyeing North Rift market especially farmers near Burnt Forest, where he intends to set up a scarecrow kiosk. He asked farmers to equally invest in the scarecrows because they help protect the finals crop yield. Bowen’s plea is reinforced by the FAO study that blamed farmers for doing less to curb animal and bird pests.

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: 21 April 2016; Hits: 5631

Strange epidemic disease identified in Northern Kenya

An outbreak of an epidemic disease affecting camels has been identified in Northern Kenya, even as Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Willy Bett assured farmers the ailment has been contained.

Bett, who was speaking during the launch of second East Africa Emerging Pandemic Threats Program, however, said the disease has not been classified.

“It is still very early (to tell what kind of disease it is). What I can say is that early detection efforts have confirmed that there is a new disease there and samples have been taken and tests are being conducted at our labs in Kabete,” Bett said.

The minister said earlier tests had ruled it out as being one of the major viral diseases such as Ebola, Corona and Marburg.

East Africa Emerging Pandemic Threats Program is a partnership between United Nations', Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) and member states in monitoring diseases.

Purpose

The Pandemic Threats Program was developed in response to revelation that 75 per cent of all emerging diseases globally are attributed to the ingestion of meat from both domesticated and wild animals.

Its main focus will be to lead early detection efforts and management of new and existing animal diseases.

“About 60 per cent of all human diseases and 75 per cent of all emerging infectious diseases are zoonotic. Most human infections with zoonoses come from livestock. What is even more scary is we live with and feast on these animals,” said the CS.

Dangerous

Zoonoses are diseases that are transmitted from animals to humans —among them SARS, influenza rabies, toxoplasmosis and HIV.

Zoonoses are responsible for 2.4 billion human illnesses and 2.2 million deaths every year. Cattle, poultry, wild birds, bats, dogs, and cats are the most common disease transmitters.

Bett said the Ebola and Corona viruses are the most prevalent of human disease causing micro-organisms picked from animals.

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