Pests

Farmers are losing more than 80 per cent of their crops before harvest to the deadly Striga weed, which is attacking multiple crops yet there are simple non-chemical ways of dealing with it. Striga, which is nicknamed ‘witch weed’ attacks rice, maize, millet, and sorghum, among other crops in most parts of Rift Valley, Western,

Small-scale farmers can maximise profits by reducing post-harvest losses to animals and other environmental agents. Having constant supply for the market through the year means sustained revenue flow, which would in turn shield farmers against low prices as they rush to sell their produce at throw-away prices for fear of post-harvest loss. Discussions from a

By George Munene According to research published in the Journal of Science, researchers have developed a cheaper and natural source of pheromones, i.e, behavior-influencing perfumed chemicals that confuse insects and prevent them from mating. Currently, it costs Sh121,000 ($1000) to Sh423,640 ($3,500) to produce just one kilogram of artificial pheromones. By modifying plants to more

Integrated pest management practice is one of the most effective ways of controlling the invasion of the fall army worm (FAW), which is threatening food security in Kenya and Africa. The pest, which attacks more than 80 plants (food and non food) including maize, cotton, pear sorghum, rice, tomatoes, cucumber, pastures, onions, kales, spinaches, among

By George Munene Developed in 2017 by the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe), push-pull technology, has been shown to reduce infestation by the devastating fall armyworm by 80 per cent.  This is in addition to mitigating the effects of the equally deleterious Stemborer pest and Striga weed.  First confirmed in 2016 in

By George Munene According to a World Food Programme report on Kenya’s food security outlook; drought, rising fertiliser prices, and armyworm attacks have led to a steep drop in agricultural production. Across marginal agricultural areas, the below-average and poorly distributed long rains resulted in below-average planted acreage and moisture stress. Crop failure was observed in

By George Munene A study conducted on invasive alien pests (IAPs) has identified 120 species not currently present in Kenya but could be introduced and become invasive in the future threatening the economy by impacting on agriculture. The research conducted by the Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International (CABI) identified these as the most dangerous

The African armyworm, scientifically known as Spodoptera exempta, is a particularly devastating pest. An early warn­ing sys­tem using traps that fake the smell of mat­ing fe­male moths has de­livered a break­through in coun­ter­ing the spread of the army­worm, which can move into an area and dev­ast­ate en­tire crops. The over 2 mil­lion farm­ers in Kenya

Ve­get­able farm­ers, who lose up to 50 per cent of their har­vest to spider mites, can wipe out the pest using its bio­lo­gical enemy and re­l­at­ive, Real IPM Phyto­sei­ulus. Phyto­sei­ulus  per­similis, is a mite that feeds on all stages of the spider mites, there­fore, an ap­pro­pri­ate and sus­tain­able ap­proach to deal­ing with the pest without