Kenyan farmers fear drop in yields if pesticides are banned

By Agatha Ngotho

Kenyan farmers have expressed concern that the call to ban use of certain pesticides would worsen the already dwindling production.

Evans Warui, a farmer from Ndekia in Mwea, Kirinyaga county, said emerging pests and diseases pose a major threat to crop production in the country.

Evans Warui a farmer from Ndekia in Mwea- Kirinyaga county in his tomato farm. He also grows rice and baby corn for export.
Image: AGATHA NGOTHO

He said the immediate action to address this is through safe use of pesticides.

Warui spoke during a fact-finding mission of pesticide use on farms in Mwea last week.

The tour was organised by the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications- AfriCenter through the Africa Life Science Knowledge Hub.  

“If I fail to use pesticides, I am afraid I will not harvest anything as the crops could be destroyed by pests or diseases. I have had to deal with diseases like tuta absoluta in tomatoes and other diseases related with the cold weather and wilting.

"Pesticides come in handy in fighting some of these diseases and pests despite the high cost of the chemicals,” Warui,who grows rice, tomato and baby corn for export said.

He added that the high cost of pesticides and other farm inputs has made the cost of production high hence low profit for farmers.   

Warui advised farmers to ensure they use pesticides as recommended.

“Every pesticide comes with a manual or guideline on how it should be used. This includes the right ratio to use and how one should protect themselves when handling chemicals. If a particular chemical does not have the instruction, one is advised by the agrovet,” he added.

The farmer said organic farming is doable but only in a small portion of land like the kitchen garden but not for commercial farming.

“You cannot farm a big place organically. It is not sustainable because there are many pests and diseases and other emerging ones due to global warming which can only be fought using chemicals,” Warui said.

Vasey Mwaja, an agricultural scientist in crop protection, confirmed that there are concerns being raised on pest control products but said we cannot do much without crop protection.

He added that failure to do crop protection will lead to hunger and could collapse the economy.

Mwaja said farmers need to ensure they use the pesticides safely so that they do not poison themselves and others.  

“Pest control products are well researched and it takes not less than 10 years to come up with one molecule. To find a useful molecule, they must go through all the four stages,” he explained.

First is the toxicological stage where scientist look for the active ingredient and make sure that it is not toxic to human beings, animals and the environment.

Next is the eco-biology stage which tests what happens to the environment along the water systems. This seeks to find out if the product will be harmful to the fauna and flora in the water where agriculture is taking place.

The third stage is done on the actual use of the product to find out if it is sustainable and can kill the intended pests.

The final test is the economic aspect. If it is expensive and giving the farmer the value for money.

The crop protection expert says the chemicals used in agriculture are the most well researched, much more so than even what we do in medicines.

He said Kenya has had regulations since 1985 under the Pest Control Product Act meant to guide on pesticide use. Cap 346 gives the direction on the use and management of pests control products.

“For us in academia, we continue to research into them and give feedback to the system. The ban is a cost burden for the country because it will result to crop failure, there will be no crops due to diseases and we will impoverish most of our farmers," Mwaja said.

“We need to sit together, reason together, talk about where the problem is so that we can explain. Let us trust our own people, we have these scientists that we took to school to become agricultural scientists. Trust them and hear from them,” he said.

Virginia Kimani, a lead consultant, Pesticides and Agricultural Resource Centre said one of the impacts of withdrawing pesticides is that Kenya will miss out on global, regional and even domestic trade.

“This is because unless you have quality and adequate produce to put in the market, you cannot be a contender in the trade.

"We lose 30-40 per cent of the production to pests and diseases, this means there will be an overall decline in production,” Kimani said.

She added that the quality of products in the market will also be low. We also need to put in mind that as the population increases, we will have more people in need of food.

Kimani said there is need to access the credibility of the people talking about the ban on pesticides.

“People need to interrogate the source of the information and the motivation behind the information. As a society, we need to start becoming analytical and avoid being carried away by waves. Let us make decisions based on science,” she said.  

Margaret Karembu, ISAAA director said the demand for pesticides in Kenya has been rising due to a rapidly expanding population and a growing agricultural sector.

“Pesticides play a key role in protecting harvest, removing the hardship of hand-weeding, improving productivity thereby making food affordable and helping farmers produce more with less land.

"The question is whether framers use these crop protection chemicals appropriately and correctly,” she said.