Pests

: 30 November 2018; Hits: 10526

Fact sheet on black rot disease in cabbage

Black rot is a bacterial disease in cabbage that causes up to 100 per cent yield losses in infected crops.

The disease has no chemical control but farmers can manage it by crop rotation, disposal of affected residues and planting of resistant cabbage varieties such as the Green Challenger, Riana and Pruktor.

Black rot is spread through irrigation (splashing of water), infected plants, wind, farm machinery, seeds and soil. The disease can survive in crops residues buried under the ground for up to two years.

The disease attacks cabbages at any stage of growth. Farmers can spot signs of the disease though presence yellow v-shaped or u-shaped areas extending inwards from the margins of the leaf.

As the disease progress, the yellow areas turn brown and the leaf dies. One plant can produce enough infectious materials to destroy a whole field. Early removal of infected plants and foliage from the fields can assist in reducing black rot damage.

Cabbages give higher yields at lower cost when grown in rotation with traditional vegetables

Cabbages, kales and tomatoes earns graduate Sh120,000 in profits in three months

cabbage black rot

A cabbage head affected by black rot disease. Courtesy

At planting, ensure that you plant only healthy seedlings and crop rotation practiced every three years.

To fasten the decomposition of crop residues, chop them up before incorporating in the soil. Workers should wash their hands and disinfect their tools using jik after working in infested fields.

In Kenya, the horticulture sector is ranked as the fastest growing sub-sector in the agriculture industry. It earned Sh115.3bn in 2017 up from Sh101.5bn in 2016 according to the 2018 Economic Survey.

In this, vegetable earnings increased from Sh23.4bn to Sh24.1bn.

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: 29 November 2018; Hits: 7662

KALRO develops vaccine to fight deadly cattle disease

Farmers will now control the East Coast Fever disease easily after researchers at the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization developed a vaccine to control the deadly disease with an 80 to 100 per cent mortality rate.

The research organization will release more than 500,000 doses of the vaccine by December 2018 with each dose retailing at Sh200. Farmers will be able to purchase the vaccine at certified agro-vets across the country.

Farmers have been relying on a vaccine which was last developed in 1995 to control the disease which kills at least 100,000 animals in Kenya and 28m in the East African region annually.

“The disease costs Sh25bn in economic losses in the whole African continent annually and that’s why we have come up with this vaccine to help small scale farmers get return on investment,” said Moses Alu, a research scientist at KALRO.

ECF is caused by a parasite adapted to the African buffalo and is transmitted from one animal to another by the brown ear ticks found attached to the ears and the tip of the tail.

It is characterized by initial signs of swelling of regions just below the ear.

Government agency to train farmers on how to improve their cattle breeds for free

Rift farmer creates empire with low cost cattle feed

ecf vaccination

Vaccination of cows in the past. Courtesy

The common symptoms of the disease include a soft cough, fever, loss of appetite, difficulty in breathing, pale eyes and diarrhea. If not properly managed, the infected cow dies after four months.

At the moment, farmers are controlling the disease by spraying/dipping of cattle to control ticks.

In some instances, farmers can remove ticks manually from the cows but this method is applied when the numbers of cows are few and the rate of tick infestation is between 20 to 30 per cent.

According to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics animal census of 2009, the country has 17,417,824 heads of cattle in the livestock sector industry that contributes 12 per cent to Kenya’s GDP and employs about 50 per cent of the total agricultural workforce.

More than 10m people majorly in the arid and semi-arid areas of Kenya rely on cattle to sustain their livelihoods.

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: 06 November 2018; Hits: 7834

Grease mixed with Vaseline and curry powder keeps off crawling insects invading beehive

beehive on a stand Beehive mounted on an ant-proof stand. The stand is greased to prevent insects that invade the hives looking for food. (Photo: jmayot).

Beekeepers can cheaply and easily keep off crawling insects which invade their beehives in search of food by smearing on the hives’ posts grease mixed with Vaseline (petroleum jelly) and curry powder rather than using grease alone which is not fully effective.

According to Ezekiel Mumo, Project Officer at Bee Care Apiaries International Limited, using grease alone may work but the oil is gradually melted and washed away from the posts with time leaving the hives unprotected.

“Farmers using grease alone are always forced to buy and apply grease from time to time because it is with time washed away from the posts and once it is washed hives remain unsafe. This makes it expensive and time consuming,” said Mumo.

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Sugar-loving ants such as safari and sugar ants move up into beehives in search of food. These crawling ants attempting to move up get stuck or repelled with the mixture.

According to Mumo, Vaseline makes the mixture waterproofed hence lasting for a longer period. On the other hand, carry powder contains multiple items that insects dislike on their own such as garlic and pepper. Curry also contains other strong seasonings such as tumeric, coriander and cumin keeping off invaders. Grease remain to keep termites off, therefore, the posts will not be eaten up.

“Since the bees cannot sting the invaders back, they move out of the hive, and in worst scenarios abscond. It is a cheap way of dealing with these intruders, but it has to be applied regularly to be effective.”

Other flying enemies like the wax moth can cause the bees to abscond. The moth’s threadlike excretions cover the larvae cells as it feeds on the combs.

Mumo also recommends the use of metallic beehive posts that cannot be eaten up by termites and are more slippery when smeared with grease and Vaseline as compared to wooden posts.

beehive stand