A nationwide pesticide sprayers service for Sh50 to Sh100 per job for small farmers is  targeting the  quarter of Kenyan farmers who report making themselves ill spraying pesticides without the right equipment, and pesticide wastage of over half a kg per  usage.

aak-grow has today issued new lists of the trained agripreneurs offering the services nationwide, given below with their locations and contacts.

The service aims to sharply reduce the health impacts and extra input costs of pesticide misuse. A 2023 survey in Mwea rice fields found not a single pesticide handler used full protective gear, and just 2.8 per cent wore gloves. 

Nationally, 68 per cent of vegetable farmers failed to wear even the minimum protection, while 85 per cent handled pesticides inappropriately and 40 per cent dumped leftover chemicals or containers unsafely.

As a result, health tests in four farming areas found  widespread signs of poisoning among smallholders where protective equipment was “almost non-existent.”

This often makes farmers ill.

In Meru, 26 per cent of horticulture farmers said they suffered acute health effects after spraying, while a national panel of 363 vegetable farmers found that dizziness, sneezing, headaches, blurred vision and skin irritation were common after spraying.

The underlying cause is a near-total lack of protective equipment and safe practice, prompting the move to offer low-cost, fully-protected spray services for smallholders, while also reducing their input costs.

A national household survey of 425 vegetable farmers found 27 per cent applied overdoses, with an average overuse of about 0.42kg of active ingredient per spray. With common pesticides priced from Sh500 to Sh2,000 per kilogram, this costs between Sh200 and Sh800 each time, far greater than the cost of a correct spraying service.

Currently, more than 170 trained spray service providers (SSPs) are active in Meru alone, with thousands registered across Kenya. Each SSP is trained by aak-grow and supported by the Pest Control Products Board, USAID, SNV, GIZ, IFDC and CropLife International.

The sprayers operate independently and farmers can hire them for between Sh50 and Sh100 per spraying

Besides applying pesticides safely, SSPs are trained to diagnose common pests and diseases, and to connect farmers with certified agrodealers for genuine products. Some have also received specialist training in crops such as mango and coffee management.

The latest list of areas and sprayers issue by aak-grow is as follows:

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