Kenya: flower pesticide banned

Date:04-19-2011

Commercial farmers are yet to find an efficient alternative to a key pesticide that was banned last year. Methyl bromide, an odourless pesticide popular among large-scale horticultural farmers, was discontinued globally because it contributes to global warming.

Head of the Pests Control Products Board Gladys Maina said the alternatives offered are expensive. "None of the alternatives has met the performance of MB and yet it has the challenge of depleting the ozone layer," she said yesterday.

Maina was speaking in Nairobi at a meeting organised by UNEP and other stakeholders in the horticultural industry to discuss alternative pesticides. "Since 1952 it has been a success because it kills all living things in the soil. So it eliminates pests completely," she said.

The pesticide is among chemicals banned under the 1987 Montreal Protocol because they destroy the ozone layer which protects humans from the sun's dangerous ultra-violet rays. Developed countries were required to phase it out by 2005 and developing countries by 2015.

Participants from more than ten countries backed calls for a reveal of the protocol to allow some usage. "We are at a crossroads," said Dr David Okioga, the officer in charge of the Montreal Protocol at the Ministry of Environment.

Horticultural farmers say if the 2015 worldwide ban is upheld and there is no a viable alternative, the world could face a catastrophe of soil-borne pests and diseases.

In Kenya, it was phased out in farming last year but will continue to be used in quarantine and treatment of wood pellets until 2015 when it will be stopped completely.

UNEP's regional director for Africa Mounkaila Goumandakoye said they favoured a complete ban on the chemical by 2015. "We are promoting development of alternatives so that we have a complete phase out by 2015 in Africa," Goumandakoye, who is based in Nairobi, said. He said several African countries are still using small parts of the chemical for treatment of wood and quarantine.

The Montreal Protocol allows countries to apply for a critical use exemption if the country has conducted sufficient alternative research but is still unable to find a viable, safe alternative to methyl bromide.

Yesterday's meeting was also attended by Dr Stephen Mbithi, Head of the Fresh Produce Exporters Association of Kenya.