West African: Reducing agrochemical use to gain higher yields

A report released by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in December 2010 indicated that West African farmers have succeeded in cutting the use of toxic pesticides, increasing yields and incomes and diversifying farming systems as a result of an international project that is promoting sustainable farming practices.

The report, titled “Fewer pesticides and higher yields and incomes,” indicates that around 100,000 farmers in Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Senegal are participating in a community-driven training programme known as Integrated Production and Pest Management (IPPM).

Working in small groups called Farmer Field Schools (FFS), smallholders are developing and adopting good agricultural practices through learning-by-doing and hands-on field experiments. IPPM promotes soil improvement and alternatives to chemical pesticides such as the use of beneficial insects, adapted varieties, natural pesticides and cropping practices.

In the report, Mr William Settle, FAO Senior Technical Officer said, “Trends in agriculture over the past decades have seen an increasing use of highly toxic pesticides. There is a general lack of knowledge in the region of the negative impact of pesticides on the production, economy and health of communities and the environment. Simple experiments in the field, as practiced by the FFS, have given smallholders the means to produce in a more environmentally friendly way, to substantially increase yields and to earn a better income. ”

It is not easy to practice successful agriculture without any use of agro-chemicals at all but farmers in Africa must be warned that for a long time, our continent has been a dumping ground for toxic waste and other agro-chemicals and pharmaceutical products actually banned in the countries that make them.

For example, the pesticide, Furadan, which we have always been using widely here in Uganda to fight pest attack in bananas and other crops, is at the centre of controversy in neighbouring Kenya.

According to the December issue of the New African Furadan is known to be a highly restricted chemical, banned in America, the European Union, and Canada, but it has been sold freely in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi for years. The magazine further indicates that Furadan is blamed for the decimation of wild life in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. Kenyan world-renowned conservationist, Richard Leakey, has been quoted by the magazine as saying, “If Furadan is not safe enough for use in America then it is not safe enough for us in Africa.”

Mindless use of agrochemicals does not only lead us to consuming adulterated food products and exposing us to health hazards but also doesn’t always increase the farmer’s profits. If we all thought out alternative ways of preventing pest attack on our crops, we could save the money needed to purchase them and we could preserve the environment a lot better.

Mrs Alice Kyosimire Nalongo of Buyanja Village in Lyantonde Rural Sub-county, Lyantonde District, fights weevils on her well maintained banana plantation by uprooting banana stumps and cutting them up into pieces. “The banana stumps are excellent breeding ground for weevils and when they are uprooted and cut up to dry, then the weevils will not thrive,” she says. “Another way is to practice a bit of agricultural sanitation by not extending the mulch to the banana stem.” She also traps them by placing sliced banana stems on banana leaves against the ground. “After a day or two, when I check, I find so many of them hiding under the trap and I kill them by hitting them or burning them.”

Some farmers practice crop rotation to fight pests. This practice interferes with their life cycle since their host plant suddenly disappears and becomes unavailable during the rest period. Some people resort to planting trap crops after observing the pests’ preferences. For example, the bollworms that often disturb the cotton farmer may be avoided if the farmer plants some maize around the cotton field. The pests normally prefer maize to cotton so they will more easily settle there. The coffee farmer may fight the ntalumbwa insects that inflict a very painful sting by exposing them to the equally tiny munyera insects that normally collect around fatty left-over food. The munyera will drive away the ntalumbwa in just a matter of days.

These are but a few natural methods that farmers can use to get rid of pests instead of resorting to highly toxic pesticides.