Pests

: 18 June 2019; Hits: 4934

Movable house for goats and sheep reduces deaths by 25 per cent

Goat and sheep farmers can reduce kids/lambs mortality from 35 to 10 per cent by constructing mobile housing.

A majority of farmers in Kenya use the traditional house made of woody enclosure which exposes them to high draught, predation and parasites.

To curb this, farmers can make the Riyason mobile house that takes the shape of half moon and varies in sizes depending on the population of the herd. Some of the materials required to make the house are; strong wooden sticks measuring 1.5m to three meters in length and if finger size thickness, binding wire, locally available woody species that can be folded to form a semi-circle without breaking e.g. Grewia , Duom palm and Commiphora.

Rearing five dairy goats is 45 per cent more profitable than a dairy cow

Fact sheet on heart water disease in cattle, sheep and goats

housing goats

Make the foundation of the house frame by folding together two strong wooden sticks of two finger size thickness to form a circle then join the two foundation wooden sticks together by using barks or binding wire.

The next step is to fold the 1.5-3 meters length finger size thickness wooden sticks to form a semi-circle and joining the ends of the sticks to the opposite ends of the foundation frame. Crisscross the folded wooden sticks in the upper frame close together and join them by using barks or binding wire.

To cover the frame, use polythene sheet, cow dung, doum palm leaves or old pieces of cloth. The house should have sufficient windows to provide ventilation and a door made from woody material or old pieces of iron sheet.

To keep the house free of parasites move it to a new site on daily basis. For grazing kids and lambs, turn it upside down to expose the ticks, lice and flies to the suns heat. Keep the house for use in the future after weaning the kids and lambs. Protect it from termites attack and intense heat by keeping it above ground and in shaded are. Since kids and lambs destroy the wooden material repair it from time to time once it breaks up.

Write comment (0 Comments)

: 13 June 2019; Hits: 7935

How to control the False Coding Moth pest that causes rejection of fresh produce in international markets

Kenya’s Horticultural Crops Department reports that 17 out of 29 rejections of horticultural produce in the international market in the last three years is due to the False Codling Moth (FCM).

The pest attacks pepper, avocado, citrus, macadamia, mangoes and cotton among other crops. The larvae burrow at the stem end into the fruit and feeds on it damaging the fruits’ tissue and diminishing its marketability.

Signs of the disease are brown spots on the affected fruit, dark brown residue from the larvae and molds. Premature ripening and dropping of fruits also occur with infestations. However, Infestations can be difficult to detect in peaches when fruit is still firm and on the tree. This poses a threat to industry because potentially infested fruit could be sold prior knowledge of its presence.

According to Greenlife Protection Africa, an agrochemical company, LEXUS 247SC 8ml/20l, KINGCODE ELITE 50EC 10ml/20l, PRESENTO 200SP 5ml/20l, PROFILE 440EC 30ml/20l, SINOPHATE 750SP 20g/20l, ESCORT 19EC 10ml/20l, LEGACY 50EC 15ml/20l, PENTAGON 50EC 10ml/20l and TRUMPET 200SC 20ml/20l are some of the insecticides that can be used to control the pest.

The pest can also be controlled biologically by using BACIGUARD 16WDG 15g/20l, an insecticide that multiplies bacteria on the False Coding Moth body thus eliminating it.

FACT SHEET: Controlling DiamondBack moth in vegetables

How to control tomato pests and diseases without use of pesticides

moth

Another method is use of the sterile insect technique. This involves releasing large numbers of sterile males into the land and on mating with females there would be no offspring.

The Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service for instance, last week held a consultative meeting with over 200 exporters to the European Union (EU) and Australian markets at its headquarters whose aim was to come up with ways to curb pests of concern to those markets.

KEPHIS MD Dr. Esther Kimani noted that the False Codling Moth (FCM) is still a challenge that needs urgent attention from all stakeholders so as to preserve the markets.

“The FCM is a pest of concern and we need to understand the necessity of mitigating it,” she said.

Eric Were, the officer In-charge at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport took the exporters through compliance levels in the Australian market.

KEPHIS formulated action points for the Australian market and these included registration of farms accredited to Australia, consolidators to provide a list of the farms they source from and provide a detailed report for each farm, develop a compliance datasheet to be filled and signed by exporters committing themselves that cut flowers delivered at JKIA for exit inspection is complying and developing data to show the number of consignments inspected, complying and those complying (indicate the pest detected) from each inspector.

Kenya is among the largest exporters of roses in the world with 38 per cent market share of the EU market which included Netherlands, France, Germany, and Norway. From the total horticultural export in 2018, cut flower earnings grew to 73 per cent from 71 per cent in 2017.

He urged them to reduce interceptions by having correct documentation, have all documentation such as additional declarations, having correct consignee addresses and complete plant passport.

Write comment (0 Comments)

: 04 June 2019; Hits: 6328

How to control bruchids in beans without use of pesticides

Bean bruchid is a pest that attack beans causing up to 40 per cent yield losses on affected produce. The pest starts attacking the pod while the crop is still in the field. It feeds within the bean making holes and reducing the weight making the produce unmarketable.

There are several ways farmers can control the pest to curb losses organically. In this, farmers will avoid use of pesticides. The World Health Organisation estimate pesticide poisoning rates at two to three people per minute.

One method of managing the pest organically without use of pesticides is by mixing dry bean grains with wood ash. In this, mix at the rate of five kilos of ash with a 90 kilogram bag of beans.

Farmers can also mix a teaspoon corn oil such as elianto with one kilogram tin of grains.

Green beans to the rescue of Kenyan farmers

Farmer boosts maize nutrition with soy beans

bean bruchid

Beans infested by bruchids

Smallholder farmers with one or two bags of beans living in a sunny area such as Eastern Kenya can reduce the pest’s infestation through sunning and sieving. This method kills the eggs and larvae and makes the adults fly away.

While sunning and sieving, spread out the beans on a mat under the sun for about six hours. After sunning, sieve the beans using a kitchen wire or a flat tin sheet with holes punched on it.

After harvesting, sieve the beans once every two weeks during the first three months. After three months, sieve the beans every three weeks.

According to Africa Soil Health Consortium, the bean bruchid is native to South America, but has spread to most other warm regions of the world. In Africa, the pest has caused widespread damage in Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi and Nigeria, and is also present in Angola, Burundi, DRC, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

In Tanzania for instance, the pest causes 40 per cent losses on beans annually.

By using the above methods, farmers save on costs that would have been used to purchase pesticides. When using actellic super pesticide for instance, a farmer will need to mix two match boxes full of actellic super with a 90 kilogram bag of bean grains.

Actellic super is sold by certified agro-vets in various towns across Kenya at between Sh120 to Sh1,000 depending on the quantity.

A 500g packet for instance retails at Sh860 by Simlaw Seeds Company, a subsidiary of Kenya Seed.

Write comment (0 Comments)