The County government of Nakuru is embracing plant clinics to mitigate against new strands of diseases and pests that are continually becoming a threat to the country’s food nutrition and food security status.
County Executive Committee Member (CECM)in charge of Agriculture, Livestock, and Fisheries Mr Leonard Bor said increased global movement of goods and services coupled with changing climatic conditions was exposing Kenyan farmers to unexpected challenges including new diseases and pests.
The CECM regretted that emerging pests and diseases besides spelling disaster to farmers were now becoming a big threat to not only food nutrition but also to the country’s food security.
Speaking during a farmers’ field day at Kimalany village in Kuresoi North Subcounty, Mr Bor said that in some areas harvest losses attributed to these pests and diseases ranged between 50 and 70 percent.
He however assured that Governor Susan Kihika’s administration was committed to supporting farmers in increasing agricultural production as one way of improving rural household incomes.
The devolved unit, Mr Bor added, was operating several plant clinics for prompt advice on pest and disease management in addition to conducting continuous disease surveillance and vaccination across the county, among other activities to bolster the incomes of smallholder farmers.
Mr Bor observed that plant clinics are crucial in filling in gaps left by the shortage of extension officers adding that with properly functioning plant clinics, emerging diseases could be detected early and managed before they spread.
He cited developed societies where plant clinics have been used for early pest and disease detection and management.
The Agriculture Executive said the County had put up 45 plant clinics spread out in all the 11 sub-counties and added they had already purchased and installed necessary equipment in all the plant clinics.
The CECM explained that all data collected at the plant clinics was analyzed and archived on the Internet for such data to become a future reference point for further studies.
At plant clinics, Mr Bor elaborated that farmers were being guided on preventive rather than curative measures when dealing with new invasive plant diseases and pests.
Mr Bor stated that his department was exploring avenues of working with experts and donor agencies to develop a mobile phone application that will enable farmers to connect with plant doctors when they cannot access the clinics.
He observed that wrong diagnostics of emerging plant diseases and pests have led to resistance to the pestilences adding that the County was partnering with bodies of experts to address the new challenges including working with experts from the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO), Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service (Kephis), Centre for Agriculture and Biosciences International (CABI), University of Nairobi and the Pest Control Products Board.
In the recent past, parts of Nakuru have witnessed the emergence of new species of aphids which are very destructive to food crops.
Farmers in the area are also grappling with Tuta absoluta caterpillars (commonly known as leaf miners) which until 1968 were confined to South Africa but have now spread to most parts of the world including Nakuru.
By Esther Mwangi
