Disseminate climate smart Integrated Pest Management (IPM) technologies for control of fruit fly and seed weevil in mangoes
A major challenge facing mango industry in Kenya is fruit fly and mango seed weevil infestation. The two pests are classified as quarantine pests and therefore have prevented farmers from accessing export markets which gives better returns than the local market. It has been reported that the loss due to fruit fly infestation can be as high as 40 % in some areas while for mango weevil the loss ranges from 20-30 %. Besides the economic loss incurred by farmers as a result of these pests, farmers and consumers are also exposed to hazardous chemicals used to control them. There is therefore need to have environmentally friendly approaches to control these pests. KALRO together with other partners have over the years developed appropriate integrated pest management approaches for control of these two pests which can be disseminated to farmers. This project therefore proposes to disseminate/upscale these technologies in order to reduce the losses and increase incomes for farmers. Sub-activities of focus include:
- Avail quality planting materials of mango varieties developed by KALRO
- Disseminate technologies for mango production developed by KALRO
- Capacity building on IPM and good agronomic practices (GAP)
- Facilitate availability of inputs for IPM
- Establish and operationalise innovation platforms in value chain
- Enhance value addition and job creation in the mango product value chain
- Capacity building on collective marketing
- Linkage of farmers to markets
- Establish and operationalise innovation platforms in value chain
- Enhance value addition and job creation in the product value chain
- Promote farmer to farmer learning exchange tours
Before launching this activity, the project will coordinate with EU funded DANIDA/MESPT component of AgriFI and with UNIDO MarkUP programme, which could possibly target similar initiatives, in order to avoid overlapping.
Manuals
- Mangoes Manuals
Research Area
Development and validation of off-Season flower induction technologies for enhanced Production of Mango
Mango (Mangifera indica L.) is the second most important fruit crop after banana in terms of value in Kenya. Besides being a commercial crop, mango makes an important part of the diet of Kenyans since it is an excellent source of Vitamin A, Vitamin C and minerals such as potassium and calcium. Mango production in Kenya is dominated by small-scale farmers who constitute about 80 % of the total production. However, despite the great importance of this crop, its full potential has not been realized due to various challenges along the value chain. One of the major challenges is the seasonality of the crop resulting in a glut during the on-season and little or no mangoes during off-season. The consequence of this is high fluctuation of the prices. In addition, mango processors can only operate about three months in a year due to unavailability of the fruits the rest of the year. Manipulation of mango trees so that they can produce over a longer period of the year through off season flower induction can greatly alleviate this problem and enhance incomes of farmers and other value chain actors. Off-season flower induction has been successfully practiced in many mango producing countries like Philippines, Brazil and South Africa. Various technologies are used for this purpose including: selection of flower induction responsive varieties, cultural methods, growth regulators such as potassium nitrate, paclobutrazol and plant hormones. Potassium nitrate, paclobutrazol and plant growth hormones have been found to have no risks to consumers as long as GAP is adhered to. Maximum residue level of paclobutrazol, a growth regulator, according to Article 12 of regulation (EC) No 396/2005 found no risk to consumers ( https: www.efsa.Europa.eu). Furthermore, according to European Food Safety Authority, plant growth regulators are low in toxicity and would not be hazardous to human health if they are used in accordance with GAPs. EU and Codex Alimentarius have set maximum residues levels and farmers are allowed to use them during plant growth (https://food safety.gov.mo). These growth regulators are naturally produced by plants and are essential for regulating their own growth (www.CFS.gov.HK).
This work is proposing to evaluate these technologies under our conditions in Kenya with a view of having higher yield and more regular production thus enhancing incomes of farmers and other value chain actors. The following sub activities are proposed
- Evaluate and validate responsiveness of local and exotic varieties to off-season flower induction technologies under controlled conditions
- On-farm validation of promising off-season flower induction technology in different AEZ’s