[NAIROBI] Papaya farmers in Kenya are turning to a novel resolution to fight the devastating papaya mealybug pest — parasitic wasps.
The mealybug, native to Central America, is a quickly spreading crop pest that has been wreaking havoc on papaya crops in Kenya since 2015, inflicting important financial losses for smallholder farmers.
Dorcus Lekesio, a smallholder farmer from Baringo county, has been a papaya farmer for greater than 15 years. She depends upon it to feed her household and educate her youngsters.
“Papaya mealybug is a really devastating pest that may result in big crop losses if not managed…. crop losses of as much as 91 % yields loss on papaya has been reported in Kenya.”
Selpha Miller, Put up-doctoral analysis fellow at CABI
“Papaya farming is my principal supply of earnings … my livelihood depends upon it,” she says.
She says the mealybug infestation lowered her anticipated harvest by over half within the final yr.
“We used many chemical substances to spray the vegetation, however it has not been working,” she provides.
A CABI scientist utilizing a magnifying glass to establish the papaya mealybug on papaya vegetation in a farm in Baringo, Kenya. Photograph by J. Davis Weddi
Alfred Bolo, one other papaya smallholder from Kwale, in coastal Kenya, encountered the mealybugs on his farm in January final yr.
He says he used pesticides, however they solely supplied momentary reduction.
“I used to be very aggravated … I used to crush them with naked palms as a result of they had been actually annoying me,” he says.
The usage of Acerophagus papayae stays a promising pure and protected resolution to the papaya mealybug downside. Photograph credit score: Courtesy of CABI.ORG
Bolo then attended a farmers’ workshop convened by the County Authorities of Kwale, Kenya, in partnership with the agricultural analysis group CABI (SciDev.Web’s guardian organisation), the place he realized concerning the papaya mealybug.
“I used to be shocked to be taught that the pest was not solely affecting me, but additionally many different farmers within the area,” he says.
Losses
The mealybug pest is native to Central America.
In Africa, it was first reported in Ghana in . It’s believed to have invaded East Africa between 2015 and 2020, inflicting extreme losses to smallholder farmers. CABI estimates that in East Africa the pest is accountable for destroying 57 – 91 per cent of crops and costing farmers £2,224 (US$ 2,854) per hectare yearly.
In 2019, scientists from CABI, together with the Kenya Plant Well being Inspectorate Service, Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Analysis Group, and Kenyatta College, recognized the wasp, Acerophagus papaya, as a potential candidate for organic management.
They are saying it provides a pure and protected resolution to the issue of papaya mealybug.
Lifeless papaya stems (backside left) lower down by farmers in Baringo, Kenya after the vegetation had been devastated by the papaya mealybug. Photograph by J. Davis Weddi
The Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Analysis Group then imported Acerophagus papayae, a parasitic wasp from Ghana, and launched it on Bolo’s farm in March, 2023.
“It took about one month for the parasitoids to unfold across the farm. They didn’t eradicate the mealybug however managed their numbers to the extent that they might not trigger financial losses to me,” Bolo advised SciDev.Web.
He has since elevated his plant manufacturing and saved on pesticide prices. “I’m now harvesting about 400kgs per week, which is an efficient harvest.”
Selpha Miller, Put up-doctoral analysis fellow, invasive species administration primarily based at CABI, says the Kenya Standing Technical Committee on Imports and Exports gave CABI and its implementing companions, The Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Analysis Group and Kenya Plant Well being Inspectorate Service, an approval to launch the parasitoids on the coastal counties the place the pest was first reported.
Following profitable administration of the pest on the coast, she says, the Kenya Standing Technical Committee on Imports and Exports has authorised the discharge in 5 extra counties, together with Baringo.
“Primarily based from the expertise on the coast, the place the pest was capable of be managed after six months, it’s also anticipated it is going to be environment friendly in different areas,” Miller advised SciDev.Web.
She says the parasitoid is predicted to handle papaya mealybug to ranges they won’t trigger financial harm to the farmer, “similar to the parasitoid has efficiently managed the pest in Ghana, the place we bought the parasitoid”.
“It is extremely protected and environment friendly,” she added.
Miller urges African governments to put money into classical organic management of papaya mealybug utilizing the parasitoid.
“Papaya mealybug is a really devastating pest that may result in big crop losses if not managed,” she mentioned.
Vincent Abuje, Baringo county director of agriculture, tells SciDev.Web that the Acerophagus papaya is a welcome reduction because the mealybug pest has prompted huge losses for farmers within the county, with many not realizing methods to handle it.
A farmer holding papaya fruits from his pest-infested farm. Photograph credit score: CABI.ORG
“Papaya farming is a significant horticultural enterprise right here and a supply of livelihood for a lot of households,” Abuje says.
He added that farmers tried utilizing pesticides, however the pest would “go away however resurface after about two weeks”.
This led to frustration amongst farmers, who had been left “observing losses”.
Abuje mentioned 28 agricultural extension officers had been skilled to advise farmers on figuring out and dealing with the pest, and a organic management technique is ready to be launched.
Abuje says he’s hopeful that this can assist farmers management the pest.
“We’re completely happy and hopeful, as this has labored elsewhere, that it’s going to assist our farmers to regulate the harmful pest.”
Lekesio’s farm is a kind of the place scientists will trial parasitoids to assist management the unfold of papaya mealybug. “We’re actually praying that this works … we desperately want it to work,” she says.
This piece was produced by SciDev.Web’s Sub-Saharan Africa English desk.
*This text was amended on 2 August, 2024 to take away the assertion that the mealybug may turn into immune to the parasitic wasp.