By Felix Ochieng Akech

When armyworm started wiping out his Boma Rhode cattle food, Callisto Mboya upped his scouting and neem spray and restored his crop from annihilation.

For several seasons in Rongo, Migori, caterpillars destroyed the grass Callisto had grown for hay. “We would cut the grass, leave it to dry, and when we came back to bale it much was already eaten and full of worms,” he said. “I was losing work and money, and the cows were not getting the feed they needed.”

Calisto’s turning point came after a neighbour suggested early monitoring , cutting the grass before worms reached peak numbers, and using a homemade neem leaf spray.

He now begins the week by walking his fields. He looks for small dark eggs on the underside of leaves, tiny caterpillars at the base of stems and early clipping damage. He asks a worker to scout every three days during the rainy months, when armyworm pressure rises. “If you wait until you see big holes, it’s already too late,” he said.

When Calisto sees small caterpillars or eggs, he acts immediately. He cuts the affected block of grass earlier than planned usually at the late vegetative early booting stage rather than waiting to the seed stage  and removes any heavily infested clumps. Cutting early does two things: it removes the food source before the larvae reach their largest, most damaging stage, and it encourages fresh regrowth that is less attractive to the pests.

The spray he uses is simple and cheap. He collects fresh neem leaves and makes the spray the evening before applying it, crushing or chopping about 1 kg of the leaves and soaking them in 10 litres of water for 8–12 hours. He strains the liquid and adds 10–20 ml of liquid soap, as a sticking agent, before putting it into a knapsack sprayer.

He then sprays the grass thoroughly to wet the leaves without creating run off in the  early morning or late evening.

“Neem is everywhere here, so the leaves cost nothing,” said Calisto. “The only small cost is the soap, but a 500 ml bottle of liquid soap (about Sh100) makes many sprays.” For heavy infestations he repeats the spraying twice a week for two to three weeks. For light pressure, he sprays once a week until the caterpillars are gone. He always tests the mix on a small patch first.

Calisto also removes and buries or burns heavily infested residues so larvae cannot pupate in the stubble. He avoids leaving long, over mature stalks in the field where pests hide. 

After cutting he dries and stores hay quickly, as keeping moisture low prevents secondary losses and reduces the chance that pests can complete their life cycle in stored bales.

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The results have been quick. “Before, I could lose almost half a cut in some sections,” he said. “Now I am losing almost nothing, the grass dries clean and the bales are fuller.”

Calisto compares the cost of his approach to buying insecticide or losing hay. A 50kg bag of some commercial insecticide or a professional spray service can cost hundreds to thousands of shillings per application and may require protective equipment. By contrast, Calisto’s neem spray costs only a few shillings per plot (soap and water) if he collects his own leaves. 

“If you watch the field and cut on time, you don’t need heavy sprays,” he said. “The neem spray is the safety net.”