Boost for mango farmers as Icipe launches fruit fly bait
Dr Sunday Ekesi (right), Icipe interim director of research, explains to Jan Debont (centre) and Henry Wainwright how the fruit fly protein bait works after the official opening of the Icipe processing plant in Makuyu, Murang’a County, on March 29, 2017. Farmers will benefit from the bait that kills female fruit flies that lower the quality of mangoes and other fruits. PHOTO | JOSEPH KANYI | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- On average, Kenya loses Sh5.5 billion annually due to invasive species of the fruit fly.
- The fruit fly accounts for over 70 per cent of the destruction to mangoes, avocadoes and other citric fruits.
- The bait has been tested on farms in Marakwet, Meru, Embu and Machakos.
Exports of Kenyan mangoes are set to rise after the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (Icipe) set up a Sh1.5 million factory that will produce a protein-based bait for fruit flies.
The factory, based in Murang'a County, was launched on Wednesday and is the second one in Africa.
It will commercially produce the bait to trap the notorious fly.
According to Dr Sunday Ekesi, the director of research at Icipe, the bait, dubbed Fruit Fly Mania, is a protein-based trap that attracts pests in mangoes.
“Farmers lose millions of shillings due the fruit fly that is devastating to both citrus fruits and vegetables through direct damage to produce and indirectly through loss of market,” he said.
HUGE LOSSES
The fruit fly accounts for over 70 per cent of destruction to mangoes, avocadoes and other citric fruits.
On average, Kenya loses Sh5.5 billion annually due to invasive species of the fruit fly.
Statistics from Icipe show that due to trade restrictions adopted in 2008, Kenya’s exports of avocados to South Africa have dropped by 80 per cent.
The presence of pests leads to poor quality and the rejection of horticultural products from Africa in export markets.
The fruit fly bait facility has been constructed through a public-private sector partnership and is located in Makuyu, Murang’a County.
TESTED IN FARMS
The research has been going on for three years and the bait has been tested on farms in Marakwet, Meru, Embu and Machakos.
“We aim to reduce yield losses and the huge expenditure incurred by growers to purchase synthetic pesticides and also reduce the health and environmental risks associated with the use and misuse of pesticides,” Dr Ekesi said.
The Fruit Fly Mania will retail for Sh250 for a 500ml tin, and the cost, according to Dr Ekesi, is 70 per cent less than that of commercially available products.
Dr Ekesi said the bait-manufacturing facility has a capacity to produce 2,000 litres per day, enough to meet the local demand of over 229,000 households that depend on mango farming in the country.
“An additional 400,000 mango growers will benefit from the product once it is registered across East Africa,” said Dr Ekesi.
Simon Ngundo, a farmer, projects an increase in his harvest in the coming season from his 500 mango trees.
