Success Stories

IPM Project Saves Money for Kenyan Farmer

Moses Ruendo is a tall Kenyan who has been farming for most of his life in Chuka County, Kenya – located in the rural Kenyan highlands. When the government sponsored an irrigation project, he hoped to stabilize production and get neighboring growers together to market their vegetable crops. But it was not so easy.

His first attempts did not consider the pressure from insect pests, soil-borne and foliar diseases, and soils infested with nematodes. He fought these pests with synthetic pesticides – sometimes with up to 12 applications per season. And if the pests persisted, he applied more pesticides until his already thin profit margins were lost. When he saw a problem on his tomatoes, he sprayed all the crops – kale, spinach, beans – because he thought the insect pest would jump from tomatoes to other crops. He simply purchased a pesticide and sprayed it whether the crop needed it or not.

But now, Ruendo grows tomatoes successfully with almost no synthetic pesticides. This is possible because of training he received through the East Africa Vegetable Project, an effort that is a part of the larger Integrated Pest Management Innovation Lab (IPM-IL).

The project is sponsored by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and directed by scientists at the Kenya Agricultural & Livestock Research Organization (KALRO) and The Ohio State University, through the Department of Horticulture and Crop Science.

Kenyan farmers like Ruendo and other farmer groups have been working with Dr. Jesca Mbaka and colleagues at the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO), who are seeking to promote broader adoption of pest management methods that reduce the use of synthetic pesticides through cultural practices, in turn reducing the incidence and impact of pests in vegetable crop production.

As a result of working with researchers from Ohio State and KALRO, Ruendo has adopted several IPM technologies. Instead of starting seedlings in crowded open beds with disease- and nematode-infested soil, he built a raised bed nursery with netting to exclude insect pests and virus vectors. He solarizes the soil to kill pathogens, weed seeds, and nematodes. To defend his crop from bacterial wilt, he uses a resistant variety (‘Kilele’). For nematodes, he uses a botanical neem-based pesticide product.

With the IPM approaches he has learned from Ohio State and KALRO-led workshops, Ruendo has now developed a production system to grow and market several vegetable crops throughout the year. He has a list of non-pesticide alternatives that he can turn to when pest problems appear. And he doesn’t just spray by the calendar as he used to; he now scouts his field for pests such as diamondback moth in kale, and applies a botanical pesticide produced based on a threshold number of pests.

John Cardina, Ohio State University Professor in the Department of Horticulture and Crop Science and principle investigator for the project, says that the changes Ruendo is making represent improvements many farmers realize after receiving IPM training.

“IPM allows farmers to use diverse approaches to prevent control pest insects, diseases, weeds, and nematodes in their production systems,” explains Dr. Cardina. “IPM options have proven to be more cost-effective than the conventional overuse and misuse of synthetic pesticides, resulting in larger profits for the farmer, along with better quality vegetables for local and international markets.”

After participating in the IPM project, Ruendo became a model farmer in his village, and he is conducting some of his own experimentation with biological products like Trichoderma mixed into the manure that he places in holes before transplanting tomatoes. He will eventually stake and prune the tomato plants, but hopes he will not have to apply pesticides. Next to the tomato field, his spinach and kale have been harvested once and no pesticides have been applied.

“With the money I am saving from not purchasing pesticides,” he says with a smile, “I have bought livestock. Oh, yes, and new clothes for my wife.”

Ruendo is pleased with the condition of his crops grown using IPM methods learned through the East African IPM Innovation Lab project and hopes that his fellow farmers begin to incorporate these practices into their own vegetable production systems.

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Using IPM to Turn Beans into Bricks

Julius Riungu and his wife Janet Gatwiri are typical farmers in a village far from the river in Kenya’s Chuka County. They have farmed together for years, and figured they would remain at a subsistence level like their neighbors and families. When the government established an irrigation project in their area they wondered if they would have a chance to save some money and build a better life for their growing family. Unfortunately, the first few years of the irrigation project were not a success. Like their neighbors, they tried growing tomatoes, and the crops were virtually destroyed by the tomato leaf-miner (Tuta absoluta) as well as bacterial wilt disease. It didn’t make sense: they did what the agro-dealer told them to do, using the standard pesticide approach to pest and disease problems and applying 10 to 20 pesticide sprays per season. And still the crops failed. It looked like reliable irrigation water was not going to raise their standard of living.

Two years ago, Dr. Jesca Mbaka and colleagues at the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Organization (KALRO) met with farmers in Julius and Janet’s village to discuss ways to improve their farming and marketing methods. The farmers organized as the Mbuiru-Mwanjati group and received training from KALRO scientists through the East Africa Vegetable Crop Integrated Pest Management Innovation Lab (IPM-IL) project, sponsored by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and directed by scientists at KALRO and Ohio State University.

Janet Gatwiri shows off French beans grown using IPM methods and without pesticides.

Their training included identification and management of plant diseases and insect pests, focusing on tomato, kale, and French beans. In addition, the KALRO scientists established participatory field studies on Mr. Riungu’s farm, where he and Janet learned to use IPM technologies, including a raised-bed nursery, solarized soil, netting, resistant varieties, and threshold-based neem applications.  They use biopesticides like Trichoderma and a botanical (neem-based) insecticide. KALRO has also helped them connect to a market that is interested in buying vegetables of high quality and no pesticides for local and export markets.

A social scientist from KALRO, Dr. Beth Ndungu, also led the group in business management and leadership training. The Mbuiru-Mwanjati group is now incorporated and can sign contracts and market as a group for local sales or for export.

Now Julius and Janet stand proudly on a pile of bricks they have been able to purchase using profits from vegetable sales. The bricks will be used to build a new house for the family. Janet credits the IPM training they received from KALRO: “This has been possible because we grow and sell French beans without any pesticide and they fetch a good price. We have turned our beans into bricks. And with these bricks we will build a new house.”

With profits from marketing French beans and other vegetables through the Mbuiru-Mwanjati farmers group, Julius and Janet are set to build a new home.

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Kenyan Farmer Captures Market for Healthy Vegetable Seedlings

After graduation from Jomo Kenyatta University, Eston Mbuba got a job in Kenya’s crowded capital city of Nairobi. He soon found his housing, food, transportation, and other living expenses too high, and his income too low, with little hope this would change anytime soon. His only option, it seemed, was to return to the land he had inherited from his father.  Although the land was suitable for farming, and had irrigation water available, Eston had little or no training in agriculture. His training was in physics and mathematics.  Nevertheless, he started organizing his farm and sought out a market niche where he could turn his math skills into business skills.

When Dr. Jesca Mbaka and colleagues from the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO) started doing work in his area, they needed farmers to be leaders. The other farmers in the area pointed to Eston – he was young, energetic, and seemed to have a good mind for business.  Dr. Mbaka convinced him to attend a workshop on Seedling Health, in March, 2017, at Sokoine Univeristy in Tanzania. This initiated Eston’s relationship with the East Africa Vegetable Crop Integrated Pest Management Innovation Lab (IPM-IL) project, sponsored by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and directed by scientists at KALRO and Ohio State University (OSU).

Like most Kenyan farmers, Eston had thought that seedlings were all the same: if they looked bad when transplanted they would eventually get better in the field as long as you applied enough pesticide.  At the workshop he learned how everything from seed to soil to watering practices at the seedling stage could affect disease and insect susceptibility later on.  After attending the IPM-IL workshop, Eston decided to specialize in the production of healthy seedlings. He has adopted several IPM technologies that he learned from KALRO and OSU scientists: he uses solarization to sterilize soil that is used in combination with potting media containing peat moss and cocoa-peat. He uses netting to exclude pests like Tuta absoluta and whiteflies from tomato seedlings. He plants high quality seeds of brassica varieties that are resistant to black-rot, and tomato varieties resistant to bacterial wilt. He discards any seedlings that do not meet his high quality standards so that no weak seedlings are transplanted to the field. By using these fundamental IPM practices, Eston’s customers have been able to cut back greatly on synthetic pesticide use, and some farmers have been able to totally eliminate the use of synthetic pesticides. This saves them money, which is why they come back to Eston for seedlings for the next crop cycle.

Eston is putting his training in math to work, calculating his return on investment in IPM technologies. And it’s paying off: he now markets seedlings directly to buyers and his orders –and sales – continue to increase. “The market for healthy seedlings is huge,” he says, “and every farmer can benefit if they start with only the best quality plants.”

With the returns on his investment in IPM methods, Eston has been able to diversify his farm, construct a controlled grazing area, and build a new plant nursery structure. He has made improvements to his house – installing new windows and a cement floor. Word has gotten around quickly among local farmers that Eston’s seedlings, produced using IPM methods, produce healthier crops. His earnings have also helped Easton to finance a vehicle to transport his seedlings to buyers and his farm produce to the local market. There’s a certain prestige, he says, in delivering his goods in a vehicle he drives himself rather than hiring someone else who might not take as good care as he does.  And when he sees farmers coming back to purchase more of his seedlings, he feels a sense of satisfaction that he has done a good job.

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IPM Practices for Healthy Crops and Healthy Families

Ms. Harriett Muthoni joined the Nthambo farmers group after farming on her own for at least 10 years.  In her previous farming experience, she grew a mix of maize and vegetables for market and to feed her family.  Farming is especially difficult in the warm and humid environment of Kenya’s forested hill country, where plant insect pests, diseases, and weeds are unrelenting. And Harriett had a problem: when she would come in the house after treating her crops with pesticides to protect them from insects and disease, she would often start feeling sick, and coughing, and her skin felt irritated. Even her children were affected because they were exposed by being outside when she sprayed and they would walk in or around the field even during application. Like most farmers in this area, Harriett had no training in pest and disease identification, so she did not know whether the pesticides she was spraying were suitable for the particular problem in the field. And like most farmers, she relied only on synthetic pesticides to control pests and diseases. Not only did she think they were making her family sick, they were so expensive that she had little profit at the end of the season.

Harriett had joined the Nthambo group when irrigation water became available. But it was only when the group was approached by scientists at the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO) that they decided to learn, grow, and market as a group.  Researchers from KALRO, led by Dr. Jesca Mbaka, connected the Nthambo farmers to the East Africa Vegetable Crop Integrated Pest Management Innovation Lab (IPM-IL), sponsored by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and directed by scientists at KALRO and Ohio State University. In this project, Harriett and 29 other farmers – most of them women – took part in KALRO-led IPM training. They started with pest and disease identification, and then learned different ways to manage these problems, especially methods that did not involve the use of pesticides.

Harriett stated that the IPM training was “the first time I understood anything about differences between pests and how organisms in the soils were the cause of tomato wilt.” She quickly embraced IPM tactics, including the use of healthy tomato seedlings, resistant varieties, and Trichoderma for nematode control in French beans.  She uses a trap for Tuta absoluta in her tomato field, and applies a neem-based product at the first sign of infestation.  On a recent visit she showed off a tomato field and adjacent kale field. Neither had received any synthetic pesticides; the tomatoes were flowering and the kale had been harvested three times already.  She said, “I used to apply a pesticide to kale and then come back a few days later and spray again, and then had to wait several days before I could sell the crop. But if I waited too long I had to go back in and spray again.” Now, she said, instead of spending time spraying, she spends time at the market because she can spray a biological product one day and market it two days later. In addition to saving “a lot of money” on pesticides, she feels better; she is healthy, and she doesn’t have to be afraid to feed her vegetables to her children.