Pests

By George Munene Produced by the Tree Health Unit, a department of Tree Genebank at CIFOR-ICRAF Nairobi, Kenya, the Major pest and disease identification and management guide for mango, avocado, tamarillo, and grevillea guide provides free vital information to help smallholders, extension and rural advisory services identify and manage all pest and disease incidences before […]

Farm­ers can eas­ily con­trol aph­ids by using some or­ganic prac­tices, such as sprink­ling ash, spray­ing a neem solu­tion or plant­ing trap crops and avoid the use of pesti­cides which must be con­trolled for safety of the con­sumers. Use of or­ganic means to con­trol pests such as aph­ids do not re­strict farm­ers to ob­serve max­imum residue

Front, the 3R potato undamaged and empty rows where conventional potatoes were planted but died due to late blight disease. By George Munene  The International Potato Center (CIP) is running trials and working on providing market access to genetically engineered potato varieties with complete resistance to late blight disease in Kenya and Nigeria   Caused by

In 2017, Kenya’s fresh produce to the European Union was intercepted 29 times due to infestation by pests such as leaf miners, bollworm,s and armyworms among others with the product having exceeded minimum pesticide limits of 10 per cent maximum residue level according to the Horticultural Crops Directorate. In developing countries such as Kenya, frequent

As the potato cyst nematodes (PCN) threaten to wipe out potato production in the country, research has shown that extracts of canola can reduce the infestation given that there is no commercial product for the treatment of the pest in Kenya. Some regions in Kenya have reported 100 per cent infestation of the pests, with

By George Munene Johannesburg/ Lagos/Nairobi, 31 January 2023—Heifer International announced the 2022 winners of the AYuTe Africa Challenge that supports agritech innovators. These include Botwana-based Brastorne Enterprises, ThriveAgric of Nigeria, and Kenya’s DigiCow.   Brastorne Enterprises– Botswana  Co-founders of Brastorne Enterprises Stimela Martin Thato, CEO, and Naledi Magowe, CGO, who both grew up in farming

By George Munene The International Potato Center (CIP) has released CIP-Matilde a potato variety highly resistant to late blight disease responsible for the historic Irish Potato Famine and an estimated Sh1.7 trillion (USD 14 billion) in potato crop destruction annually. The variety which was grown in Peru and whose planting materials have been sent to

By George Munene Late blight (phytopthora infestans) is the most economically important potato disease in Kenya causing yield losses ranging from 10 per cent to absolute crop failure.  Studies report 92 per cent of Kenyan farmers having to deal with the disease.  According to the Kenya Potato Production Guide which was compiled by a team of