Pests

: 23 May 2019; Hits: 4196

How Western Kenya farmers can avoid losses in banana farming

Smallholder banana farmers in Western Kenya can avoid losses by growing black streak resistant varieties.

The varieties are FHIA 23 – dessert, FHIA 01 – gold finger and FHIA 02 TU8 – dual purpose which are produced through tissue culture, a clean disease free procedure in establishment of seedlings.

Black streak attacks all banana varieties in Western Kenya causing 50 to 90 per cent yield losses according to KALRO.

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banana 2 big

The diseases is spread in conditions where there is high moisture such as in the rainy season or when the crop is under irrigation. Infected packaging materials also act as carriers of the disease.

The initial symptoms of black streak are tiny leaf spots that appear on the bottom of the leaf surface. The spots then develop brown streaks which become darker, sometimes purple on the top surface of the leaves. The spots form black streaks on the leaves.

When the disease becomes severe, the leaves of the plant display a burnt up appearance with the whole plantation appearing as if it has been set on fire.

To control the disease, remove the affected plant leaves and pant resistant varieties such as those mentioned above.

Kenya produces an estimated 1.4m tonnes of bananas annually.

The Leading producers are: Meru (19 per cent), Embu (12 per cent), Taita Taveta (nine per cent), Murang’a (seven per cent), Kisii (six per cent), Tharaka Nithi (six per cent) and Bungoma (five per cent).

86 per cent of the total bananas produced are sold commercially with the rest being consumed directly according to USAID.

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: 17 May 2019; Hits: 6352

How to control weeds in maize without use of pesticides

Maize farmers can reduce weed infestation in their farms by 31 to 60 per cent by intercropping mucuna, an herbaceous legume that also increases soil fertility by fixing Nitrogen in the soil.

Mucuna produces a large biomass and can provide a ground cover that effectively controls weeds which compete with crops for water, nutrients and light.

Once mucuna dries up it forms a dense layer of plant material that prevents germination of weed seed leading to a clean seed bed.

The legume reduces the amount of grass in the field by 70 to 98 per cent in two to three seasons. Besides maize, mucuna can be used as cover crop between rows of crops such as coconut, oranges and mangoes.

Striga weed is one of the weeds that attack maize farms in Kenya and Africa as a whole. According to the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), the weed infests over 20m ha of crops in sub-Saharan Africa each year causing losses estimated at Sh100bn.

In East Africa, the weed infests over 1.4m hectares yearly with Kenya accounting for 340,000 ha of the total land invaded by the weed.

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mucuna

Maize intercropped with mucuna

The striga weed causes stunted growth of maize by attaching itself to the roots of the host plant extracting essential nutrients and moisture necessary for growth.

Weeding and spraying of chemicals of one acre requires at least Sh2,000 per round. Two weeding rounds means the double the amount and hence by intercropping the legume with maize saves farmers in production costs.

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: 15 May 2019; Hits: 6938

Intercropping Napier grass with maize controls destructive stem borer

Stem-borer pest contributes up to 40 per cent loss of cereal harvest to farmers especially maize.

Both the large grain borer and the spotted stem borer are highly destructive, more-so in Sub-Saharan Africa where they do not have many natural enemies to regulate their population.

According to International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology, stem borer feeding on cobs renders the maize susceptible to storage moulds, which produce poisonous cancer-causing chemical substances like aflatoxins.

Growing using crops with push and pull method is a costless practice that can save Kenyan famers the more than Sh11.6bn cereals lost to the pest yearly.

Napier grass for instance, can protect maize crop against this pest. Napier grass is a repellent crop.

Stem-borers would lay eggs on Napier grass, but they will not develop to larvae. Planting one line of Napier grass also repels moths, a development stage of stem-borer, from the field.

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push pull field

Push pull field.

Napier and other desmodium plants also inhibit growth of striga weed, which attacks maize and other crops like rice. A farmer should clear and harrow land to a fine tilt before the onset of rains.

Demarcate the land into plots and plant three rows of Napier grass along the border at a spacing of about 75cm by 75cm.

Desmodium should be alternated with maize in rows. At a spacing of 75cm by 30cm, maize should have a one meter margin away from the inner row of the Napier grass.

Early weeding enables push-pull plot protection-probably when maize is three and five weeks old.

Maize being a heavy nitrogen feeder, the leguminous desmodium would fix the element into the soil. The highly nutritious crop will also be utilized as fodder for animals just like Napier grass.

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