Progress 2017

2017 FY Annual Report

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2017- Lessons Learned

Good work is under way in all three countries, and they are focusing in different ways depending on their needs for IPM research and outreach capacity. The most important effort that is underway is the development of relationships among researchers and research groups within and among countries. This is critical for the future capacity of IPM in these countries. The Tanzania group has the most activity in developing new technologies, i.e. novel botanical extracts for tomato leaf-miner, anaerobic disinfestation for soil-borne pathogens, finding new disease-resistant rootstocks, identifying thrips tolerance/resistance in onion varieties. The intention is that successful technologies will be scaled up in the third year of the project.  The Kenya group is more focused on outreach to new groups of farmers who have recently joined together for farming and marketing. They are using fairly established IPM technologies, and have been successful in getting farmers to adopt them. The emphasis for year three will be on expansion of this effort, along with continued work on some novel biological products. The Ethiopian group has taken the longest to get started. This is due to several factors: unfamiliarity with management of the funding approach, internal political issues that inhibited communication networks, and the fall armyworm crisis that pulled entomologists away from vegetable IPM efforts. Nevertheless, they have field work underway and three MS students engaged in research, and are planning to host the project’s annual meeting in 2018.

On-farm participatory trials combined with training in technologies evaluated were very effective for advancing IPM approaches. Farmers training and hands-on experience in pest and disease diagnostics and some basic epidemiology can easily lead to a reduction in pesticide usage, more yield of high quality produce, and increased income. Part of the reason why farmers use so many pesticides is because the agro-chemical dealers are the advisor even though they are not trained on safe use or environmental impact of pesticides. Participatory on-farm research (by researchers and farmers) proved to be an effective approach to technology dissemination and adoption. Raising seedlings in germination trays with soil-less media such as peat moss and coco-peat produced healthy seedlings and plants that withstood pest pressure. Plant nutrition and water management remain problems to be investigated further. Through Whatsapp and email, seedling producers are working among themselves and with experts to resolve these issues.

Travels to the tomato-producing village of Mlali Tanzania, for example, revealed a marketing system where villages specialize in one crop to the near exclusion of other crops. This system favors the produce buyers and haulers. They know which villages to visit to purchase tomatoes, which for onion, eggplant, potatoes etc. This means there is little diversification at the entire village level. So if it is a bad year for tomatoes, the whole village (more or less) suffers, but the buyers can go to other regions where conditions were favorable.  An individual farmer cannot easily go against this system by producing something novel, because they cannot produce a large enough quantity to attract buyers. The system is similar in Kenya, although the Chuka County farmers that KALRO is working with are better organized to produce and market together.

From the trainings, farmers are now able to identify pests and diseases such as bacterial wilt, nematodes, black rot, Tuta absoluta, phosphorous deficiency, and pith necrosis in tomato, diamond back moth, aphids and cabbage moth and its natural enemy the hover fly. They now know the importance of scouting prior to taking management steps. To reduce pesticide use, they know the cultural methods to use including pest exclusion, use of traps, and use of healthy seedlings, plant resistance, staking and trellising, hand pulling and spot spraying. When pesticides must be used, the farmers know that they have options to use biopesticides, such as Trichoderma, Nimbecidine, Bacillus thuringiensis, and oil sprays. There were reports by farmers that before the start of the training, one would observe a pest in one crop, such as tomatoes, and spray all the other crops due to the belief that spraying with synthetic pesticides needed to be a routine. Now they know this is not true. They have seen it is possible to raise a vegetable crop and complete a growth cycle without the need to spray any synthetic pesticide.

The situation in Ethiopia is different from other East African countries, due to cultural and historical and language factors as well as resource availability. Growers are not organized and resist organization. Group marketing for vegetables has been tried but failed, so the approach that works in Kenya will not work here. Often, those who farm the land do not own the land. They talked of ‘telephone farmers’ referring to the remote connection between landowner and those who actually grow the crop.

The fall armyworm crisis had a big impact on this project, drawing Ferdu and others away from vegetable IPM work to attend numerous meetings to address this issue. The infrastructure problems in Ethiopia cause periods without internet access, making communication difficult or slow and inhibiting interactions with students.  Poor connectivity results in a different sort of cell phone culture here than elsewhere, with less dependence on this technology and less urgency for frequent connection. Also, Whatsapp is less widely used here, and Viber is preferred; we need to determine if connections can be merged.

 

2017- Technologies to Scale and Transfer

Technologies ready to scale

  1. Solarization of nursery beds
  2. Use of insect-proof netting in a nursery bed
  3. Use of plant resistance to manage pests and diseases
  4. Establishment of seedlings in sterile medium in germination trays
  5. Use of Trichoderma in seedling establishment
  6. Hand pulling and spot spraying to reduce pesticide use.

Technologies Transferred

  1. Solarization
  2. Insect proof netting in nursery beds
  3. Establishment of seedlings in germination trays
  4. Trap crops
  5. Scouting to inform decisions
  6. Trichoderma in the management of nematodes of French beans
  7. Rouging to control viral diseases
  8. Spot spraying and rouging to control aphids in brassica
  9. Superior varieties and plant resistance in the management of bacterial wilt of tomato
  10. healthy seedlings
  11. Mulching (organic materials and plastic)
  12. Pests identification and scouting
  13. Pesticide handling and application safety
  14. Soil /media sterilization
  15. Seed treatments
  16. Crop/variety resistance
  17. Crop rotation
  18. Farm Record keeping
  19. Chlorinated water for shelf life improvement
  20. Protected culture (low and high tunnels)
  21. Grafting for management of soil borne diseases
  22. Plant extracts and microbial pesticides
  23. Proper pesticide rotations
  24. Fumigation
  25. Neem oil (Nimbecidine)
  26. Scouting
  27. Weeding alternative hosts
  28. Staking
  29. Pruning
  30. Proper plant spacing

Technologies Scaled

  1. Scouting for pests and diseases to inform on whether to start management strategies
  2. Rouging to reduce inoculum
  3. Spot spraying to reduce pesticide use
  4. Use of superior resistant varieties to exclude pests and diseases
  5. Seed/seedling selection for inherent pest and disease resistance and site selection to reduce pest and disease incidence.

 

2017- Human and Institutional Capacity Development

Short-term training

Country of Training Date of Training Activity Brief Purpose of Training Who was Trained Number Trained

 M         F         Total
Tanzania Feb. 14-16, 2017 Seedling Health Workshop: 3-day practical demonstration of IPM technologies, e.g. seeds, soil, water, protection, biocontrols, fertility, & quality assessment, for seedling  production. Trainers, extension officers, educators, students, farmers, male and female entrepreneurs 49 14 63
Tanzania Feb. 25-28, 2017 Virus vector identification and management. Research assistants 2 1 3
Tanzania April 5-8, 2017 On – farm training on onion IPM technologies: Principles of IPM; rationale of IPM, pests identification; damage and symptoms; IPM in onion – insect pests, diseases and weeds; seed selection; variety resistance, nursery establishment; transplanting; onion crop field management. Farmers, extension officers 37 43 80
Tanzania May 15-16, 2017 IPM methods for tomato and Chinese cabbage. Farmers, extension officers 67 23 90
Tanzania August 25-28, 2017 Vegetable seedling health and crops production IPM practices and GAP. Training included use of WhatsApp to inquire, share and communicate pest and disease problems. Farmers, extension officers, local leaders at Kerege,  Bagamoyo 42 32 74
Tanzania May to August 2017 Hands-on training in vegetable viral disease IPM. Objectives:

Understand cause, symptoms, spread, effect and control of viral diseases and insect vectors

Viral disease IPM

Good agricultural practices (GAP) for vegetable crops

 Farmers

Local leaders

Extension officers

Journalists from Kerege, Matega

Zinga, and

Chambezi

 155 91 246
Kenya June, 2017 IPM systems and Technologies (i.e., site selection, solarization, insect proof netting, pathogen-free seeds/seedlings, scouting, identification of main diseases, establishment of seedlings in sterile media in germination trays). Farmers from Nthambo,

Mbuiru-Mwanjati, and

Mbogoni Farmer Groups, and extension officers

 33 40 73
Kenya August, 2017 Use of WhatsApp for disease diagnostics and IPM communication. Those with good smart-phones are participating in the network by sending images and questions. Farmers from Nthambo,

Mbuiru-Mwanjati, and

Mbogoni Farmer Groups

 30 39 69
Kenya Nov 13-14 2016 To define solarisation and its application for management of soil borne pests, pathogens and weeds in the nursery bed Farmers, extension officers 32 22 54
Kenya Nov 13-14 2016 Use of resistant varieties tomato (Var. Kilele) and Cabbage (Var. Queen) for management of bacterial wilt and black rot respectively Farmers, extension officers 32 22 54
Kenya Nov 13-14 2016 Pest exclusion by use of insect proof netting in the nursery bed Farmers, extension officers 32 22 54
Kenya Jan. 18/2017 Identification and integrated management of Tomato pests and diseases Farmers, extension officers 43 53 96
Kenya Jan. 19 2017 Identification and integrated management of French bean pests and diseases Farmers, extension officers 43 53 96
Kenya Jan. 19 2017 Identification and integrated management of Brassica pests and diseases Farmers, extension officers 48 59 107
Kenya March 10-11 2017 Use of Trichoderma for management of seedling damping off, Fusarium wilt and seedling rots Farmers, extension officers 18 27 45
Kenya June 14 2017 Vegetable seedling health management Farmers, extension officers 14 16 30
Kenya June 29 2017 Use of Smart phone for disease Diagnostics Farmers, extension officers 38 39 77
Kenya Use of social media for pest diagnosis and information sharing Farmers, extension officers 38 39 77
Kenya July 12 2017 Use of lime to increase soil pH for phosphorous availability Farmers, extension officers 9 13 22
Kenya August 3 2017 Identification and management of nematodes in French beans Farmers, extension officers 9 20 29
Kenya Aug 3 2017 Use of biopesticides in vegetable production Farmers, extension officers 34 35 69
Kenya Aug 17, 2017 Propagation of seedlings in coco peat and germination trays Farmers, extension officers 34 35 69
Kenya Sept 5 2017 Use of lime to increase soil pH Farmers, extension officers 9 13 22
Kenya Sept 26-27 Use of Microsft Dynamics AX for Enterprise Resource Planning for use in procurement and accountability Farmers, extension officers 18 11 29
Ethiopia Oct. 3-5 Seed management, seed bed management, solarisation, protective covering, fertilization, safe use of pesticides, reduced insecticide use. Farmers 91 12 103
TOTALS 957 774 1731

 

Long-term training

Name

(first, last)

 Gender University Degree Major Program

End Date

(month/year)

 Degree Granted

(Y/N)

 Home Country
Hellen Kanyagha Female Ohio State University PhD Plant Pathology December/2019 Tanzania
Ester Rehema Matendo Female SUA MS Entomology December 2017 Tanzania
Peter A. Maerere male SUA MS Entomology December 2017 Tanzania
Tumsifu Samwel Male SUA MS Plant Protection December 2017 Tanzania
Happiness Christopher Female SUA MS Plant Protection December 2017 Tanzania
Denis Nyamu Male Ohio State University MS Entomology June/2019 Kenya
Cecilia Ngugi Female University of Nairobi PhD Entomology June 2018 Kenya
Joshus Kinene Male Chuka University MS Entomology December 2018 Kenya
Kumsa Did Male Hawassa University MS Entomology December 2018 Ethiopia
Yosef Beriun Male Hawassa University MS Plant Pathology December 2018 Ethiopia
Feyisa Bekele Male Hawassa University MS Weed Science December 2018 Ethiopia
Muntasir Hasan Male Virginia Tech M.S. Agricultural Economics August 2017 Yes Bangladesh

 

Long-term training: Graduate student Muntasir Hasan helped to summarize and analyze the baseline survey for Kenya and completed his MS thesis. He was fully funded by the project and is currently in the job market.

 

2017- Gender Differences in IPM and Vegetable Farming

Lessons learned about gender differences in IPM and vegetable farming

By: Cathy A. Rakowski, The Ohio State University

Conducting a thorough gender analysis of IPM issues and other aspects of vegetable farming in the three countries included in the project (Kenya, Ethiopia, Tanzania) requires either that

  1. ) gender as a variable be included in the design of questions and in the analysis of data for each survey and/or
  2. ) survey data be shared with other researchers for the purpose of conducting gender analyses.

Surveys in all three countries had been completed at the time of this writing. One was a baseline survey conducted in Tanzania by Dr. Amon Maerere several years ago. It was a random survey, which likely explains why only 26.7% of those surveyed were women farmers while 73.3% were men. The data are available for analysis in SPSS if funds become available to hire a student to produce the required tables.

A survey of farmers also was conducted in Ethiopia by ICIPE (International Center of Insect Physiology and Ecology). Three hundred farmers were interviewed, of which only 11 were women (3.66%). This likely was a random survey, but the small number of women farmers included means it will be impossible to evaluate gender differences among vegetable farmers in Ethiopia.

Data for Kenya include an original survey of 403 farmers conducted with funding from this project for the purpose of analyzing diverse aspects of vegetable farming, IPM issues, sources of inputs, and a range of other variables shed light on gender differences. MS student Muntasir Hasan conducted the survey under the guidance of Dr. George Norton. Every effort was made to include both women and men farmers by alternating the sex of farmers interviewed in the households sampled. As a result, 48.9% of farmers interviewed were women. Rakowski was given access to the data set and enough funding to hire an Ohio State University graduate student (Asanka Wijesinghe) to assist with technical aspects of data analyses and to produce required tables using STATA.

 

Examples of Gender Findings for Kenya

The following presents a brief analysis of some important gender differences identified by the Muntasir-Norton survey. Simple crosstabs were used for preliminary analyses.

The study included 206 men farmers and 197 women farmers. For the purpose of comparison, the following uses % within each gender group.

Age:  Ages of farmers surveyed ranged from 20-81, with distribution across age groups very similar except for a slightly higher percent of men in upper age ranges and a slightly higher percent of women in lower age ranges.

Marital status:  With respect to “marital status” (whether legalized or cohabitation), 92.7% of men farmers and 70% of women farmers indicated that they were “married.” A larger percent of women farmers identified as widowed (21%) than men (3.4%). More women farmers also identified as single (6.6%) compared with men farmers (3.4%). Only 1 man and 5 women indicated being separated or divorced.

Agriculture as an occupation:   Farmers were asked whether agriculture was their primary occupation or their secondary occupation. For over 76% of the men, it was their primary occupation and for 24% it was their secondary occupation. For 80% of the women, it was their primary occupation and for 20% it was their secondary occupation.  Other primary occupations included having a business or a wage job for both men (23%) and women (19%). Over half of both men (54%) and women (56%) stated that they had only one occupation (farming).

The farming households surveyed ranged from 1-28 members for men and 2-15 members for women. However, 84% of men and 63% of women farmers lived in households with between 3-10 members. It is unclear whether or not some households include any unrelated individuals or if all are related. “Members” do children and extended family members who are adults.

Most farmers, both men and women, appear to have reasonable or easy access to the nearest extension office (5 or fewer kilometers) and to agricultural inputs.

Sizes of plots vary greatly (from .125 acres to 30,000 acres). On average, women’s plots tend to be only slightly smaller than men’s although a larger percentage of women than men have very small plots (under 1 acre). A few farmers (2 men and 3 women) have access to public land for farming.  Few farmers rent land and more than half of all men (59.2%) and close to half of all women (44.7%) surveyed inherited their land. Both women and men live in households that own a significant number of livestock (ranging from 1 or 2 to 80+).

Membership in farmer groups and other community-based organizations is low. Only 28.6% of men and 39% of women are members of a community organization and 56% of men and 57% of women farmers are not members of a savings group. Men farmers and their spouses are slightly more likely than women farmers and their spouses to be members of a marketing cooperative, but the numbers are low.

Men farmers are more likely than women farmers to receive advice from an agricultural extension worker (73% vs 53%) or from a farmer field school (10% vs 5.6%). Both are highly likely to receive advice from radio shows (85% of men and 80% of women).

Both women and men surveyed grow tomatoes and cabbage but plot sizes are not large. Tomatoes are grown on plots that range from .01 acres to 4 acres and cabbage is grown on plots that range from .001 to 4 acres. Men in the survey are somewhat more likely than women to grow tomatoes (40% vs. 30%) and cabbage (46.6% vs. 44.1%).

The percent of household income from selling vegetables varies greatly for both men and women farmers. However, men’s households and women’s households are both highly likely to report that half or more of the household income comes from selling vegetables (25.07% for men’s households, 23.5% for women’s).

Both men and women farmers are equally likely to use irrigation systems (55% and 58% respectively) while women farmers are more likely to use cans or buckets to water vegetables (51.5%) than men (41%).

Both women and men farmers struggle with a variety of crop pests and diseases and they use a variety of pesticides and strategies (including weeding and IPM) to address these. Many reported that they adopted IPM methods primarily because it costs less. However, most men and women interviewed regarding the effectiveness of IPM did not believe that IPM was more effective than pesticides, nor did they believe that it was safer for family health, better for the environment, or that it protects beneficial insects. However, a majority also thought that pesticides have adverse effects on the environment (especially water pollution, kills pests’ natural enemies, kills bees).

The majority of farmers surveyed, both men and women, had not received training in IPM and the majority who did received training only once. A majority of both men and women farmers who use pesticides use protective boots and hats when applying them, but few use a mask or goggles.

It is not clear whether both sets of respondents—male and female—were the heads of their households or not. The focus was on selecting a farmer knowledgeable about farming in each household surveyed. Male respondents tended to state, when asked, that men were more likely to make decisions regarding pests and women respondents stated that either women or both genders were more likely to make decisions about what to do about pests. Women respondents also gave more credit to women than men did for some decisions (i.e., spending money on pest management) but more credit to men for applying pest management products. About 20% of the farmers indicated that both farmers (male and female) in a household shared in making decisions about important issues involving both farming and pest management. Most indicated that they chose to use pesticides based on the number of pests detected on the plants and/or the visibility of damage on plants. Problematically, both men and women farmers indicate high rates of illness among family members after applying pesticides.

 

2017- Presentations and Publications

Sseruwagi, P., J. Ndunguru, M. Njelekela, and D. Kalekayo. 2017. Major Viral Diseases of Tomato and their Management in Tanzania. (Dalili za magonjwa makuu ya virusi vya nyanya na udhibiti wake Tanzania). A 4-page document in Kiswahili and English with images describing tomato viral diseases, causes, symptoms, spread, effects, and management. More than 100 copies were distributed to participants in training workshops and to farmers making inquiries on vegetable production at MARI.

 Presentations in the 16th Workshop on Sustainable Horticultural Production in the Tropics Chuka University, 28th November to -2nd December 2016:

  1. Kihara S. N., Mbaka J. N., Ndung’u B. W., Muriuki SJN., Kuria S.N., Kambo C.M., Wepukhulu S.B., Gathambiri. C.W. and Faraay R.N. Farmers’ Knowledge of Vegetable Pests and Diseases and their Perceptions of Pesticide Use Practices in Tharaka-Nithi County, Kenya
  2. Muriuki SJN, Mbaka JN, Kambo CM, Kihara SN, Kuria SN, Gathambiri CW Wepukhulu SB. Distribution and severity of insect pests in cabbages and kales in selected irrigation schemes in Chuka, Tharaka-Nithi County
  3. Mbaka J.N. (2016). Integrated Pest Management: Challenges to Adoption in Horticulture Production in Kenya.
  4. Ndungu B., Mbaka J., Wepukulu S., Kihara S., Muriuki S., Gathambiri C., Kambo C., Kuria S., Ndegwa A. and Farray R. (2016). Participatory Identification of Pest Constraints in Selected Vegetable Crops and Farmer Management Practices in Tharaka-Nithi County, Kenya

In preparation: Ngugi, CN. Mbaka, JN., Wachira, PN. Okoth, S. and Muriuki, SJN. Evaluation of five entomopathogenic nematode isolates for their infectivity on Tuta absoluta. Abstract presented for a poster presentation in the forthcoming 17th Workshop on Sustainable Horticultural Production in the Tropics at Pwani University, Kilifi, Kenya, and 27th November to 1st December 2017.

 

2018- Future Directions 

A comprehensive work plan for FY18 has been submitted for this project, with details of planned experiments, training events, and associated project activities. Our future direction will concentrate in these four areas:

  1. – Diagnosis. Labs at UC-Davis and MARI are using modern molecular methods to enhance our ability to detect and identify viruses. They are working with collaborators in Ethiopia on what appears to be Ethiopian pepper mottle virus. This work will support future efforts to map virus outbreaks, spread, and prediction. This will include completion and the characterization of the two new cucurbit potyvirus species from Tanzania, including development of diagnostic tools (PCR primers), sequence comparisons with other potyviruses, generation of infectious clones and host range determination. Training will continue to give attention to diagnosis.
  2. – IPM Technology development and scaling. Some early-stage laboratory work is being conducted to develop new technologies that have potential to replace synthetic pesticides for pest and disease management. Other technologies are – or soon will be – moved to the field for testing and verification.  Some plant-based products being tested at SUA show promise against Tuta absoluta, for example, and some interesting toxin proteins from entomopathogenic nematodes are being isolated and identified in work at KALRO. The intention is to move these as far along as possible and to seek other sources of funding if they continue to show promise. We will continue to scale innovations based on established technologies, such as improved rootstocks for grafting, resistant varieties, insecticide-impregnated netting, neem-based products, and new isolates of Trichoderma and other biocontrol organisms. To move established IPM technologies out to farmers, we will continue to conduct participatory on-farm demonstrations in villages in Feed the Future areas all countries. These are combined with relevant training to educate farmers on IPM technologies as well as the use of the diagnostic network. The training and demonstrations will include participation of local agency personnel. We will expand healthy seedling production capabilities through business planning for current producers and adding additional seedling producers in each country to meet current demand for healthy seedlings.
  3. – IPM Communication. The East Africa IPM Plant Health Network using WhatsApp will be expanded to village farmer groups. We have already initiated this effort in Kenya through work with Real IPM in the villages that KALRO is focusing on.  These will serve as models for other farmer groups.  Our plan is to train representatives from these groups as trainers for other farmer groups and to establish linkages among groups that will be linked to the core diagnostic group. IPM communication will also be expanded by pushing out SMS messages to farmers regarding IPM technologies. As part of IPM communication, cooperators and their students plan to prepare manuscripts for publication, including four from Kenya and one from the USA in a special issue of the journal Crop Protection. We will continue to build the project web site at Real IPM and the one under construction at Ohio State (https://u.osu.edu/cardina.2/) .
  4. – IPM Training. In conjunction with the project’s annual meeting in Ethiopia in 2018, we will conduct a training event focusing on tomato and onion IPM packages, from seed selection and seedling production through to harvest and market. The goal will be to demonstrate all possible IPM technologies that can be used along the entire crop cycle. Locally-conducted training events in Kenya and Tanzania will focus on the connection between diagnosis and management – i.e. how to guide farmers in the choice of IPM technologies. This is a missing piece in adoption of appropriate IPM-based responses to pest, disease, weed, and nematode problems. These local trainings will be conducted in villages where participatory on-farm trials are conducted. At the advanced level, we will of course continue to support the PhD and MS students engaged in the project.