Unconcentrated rabbit urine poured in a backpack sprayer. Photo courtesy.
Farmers can reduce the money they spend on pesticide by using rabbit urine to wipe out whiteflies, sap-sucking insects called that attack crops such as vegetables, coffee, macadamia, bananas and avocadoes among others.
Alex Maina who has been a rabbit farmer for over four years now and has been taping and using the animals’ urine to control the destructive insects on his banana and pawpaw crops says he has been able to reduce his expenditure on insecticides by almost nil.
“I started using the urine two years ago on my crops to control different pests and diseases and it has proved more effective on whiteflies,” said Maina.
According to Dudutech, an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) company in Africa, insecticides only have a limited effect on whiteflies as most only work when they come in direct contact with the whiteflies and that harsh synthetic chemicals will generally kill all the natural enemies of the whiteflies before they kill the whiteflies themselves
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How to use it
It should be noted that rabbit urine can be used in two ways, as a foliar fertiliser and as a pesticide or insecticide.
When used as an insecticide, a farmer would be required to mix two litres of concentrated rabbit urine with three litres of water and spray the mixture on affected crops after every two weeks three times to wipe the insects.
When used as a folia, one would be required to use a litre of concentrated rabbit urine and mixed it with four litres of water and apply it to crops three times every two weeks.
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Piloting
Following the effectiveness of the urine in his crops, Maina has since decided to engage more farmers by giving them free rabbit urine to try on their crops especially with farmers owning big coffee, avocado and banana farmers in Murang’a County.
“I have approached a group of farmers called Murindi Farmers Association for piloting of this project. Already the feedback from them is encouraging and soon we will be recommending it for wide use in the region hence creating more income for rabbit farmers who would like to tap and sell rabbit urine,” said Maina.
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Cost of rabbit urine
Maina who owns 60 rabbits in his Forest Lane Rabbit Breeders farm in Embu County says there was a time he used to sell his rabbit urine at Sh25 per litre but stopped to sensitise farmers first.
However, currently the urine goes at between Sh400 and Sh500, but companies that have packaged it sell it at Sh600 to Sh800 per half a litre.
Besides rabbit urine, whiteflies can also be wiped using organically made neem oil.
Maina can be reached on +254 722 898984