By Antynet Ford

The False Coddling Moth that swept across Kenya’s flower industry is causing crop losses of 20-30% for over three-quarters of capsicum farmers surveyed, but new research confirms irrigation and intercropping with lavender can provide near complete protection from the pest

“Irrigating thrice or twice a week and using lavender as a repellent plant significantly reduced false codling moth infestation by 90 per cent, increased yield by 28 per cent, and improved fruit quality in terms of fruit collar diameter and total soluble salts (TSS),”  reported the Department of Crops, Horticulture and Soils at Egerton University, in research published this year.

The research follows from earlier findings that the correct spacing of sweet pepper and lavender reduces the larval spread to host plants.

“The findings demonstrate that integrating lavender repellent plants with frequent irrigation can be adopted as an eco-friendly management strategy for FCM, enhancing sweet pepper yield and quality,” reported the Everton researchers.

The strong volatile organic compounds from lavender mask the scent of sweet pepper, repelling the moth, with its essential oils known to repel and control a wide range of insect pests.

The findings come against the backdrop of a sharp fall in FCM infestations in flower exports, but an incremental rise in the pest on other crops and particularly capsicum.

The major drop in flower infestations follows the implementation by the Kenya Plants Health Inspectorate Services (KePHIS) of the Rose FCMSA protocol to control and eliminate the pest in flowers.

For other horticultural producers, the mobilisation has been less structured, and despite KePHIS zero tolerance policy on FCM, infested export consignments are still intermittently making it to the EU, where they are rejected.

Yet while the export trend is downwards, with eight FCM rejections in the first quarter of 2025 falling to two in the first quarter of 2026, farmers have also been hit on crops grown for local consumption.

A survey of over 100 capsicum fatmers across 10 counties, published in 2024, found that over three-quarters of the farmers (76.85 per cent) had suffered yield losses to FCM of an average 20-40 per cent.

Nearly all of them were using pesticides to control the pest, but only just over 11 per cent reported the pesticides were effective. Hiwever, nearly 40 per cent reported they were using pesticides with other methods such as intercropping and that this was more effective in stopping the moth than pesticides alone.

“Previously, there has always been blanket spraying by farmers, and I want to point out that that has recently reduced as there is more awareness and farmers understand that controlling FCM is not just about spraying but timing, monitoring, and post-harvest handling,” said agronomist Timothy Akaranga.

The Everton research is also made more significant, by the moth’s continuing spread across new crops.

Both of the two interceptions for FCM in exports from Kenya in the first quarter of 2026 were for crops that had not previously suffered any interceptions for the pest, being Sweet William flowers and the vegetable, zucchini.