Kenya warns of apple snail threat to rice cultivation

The Kenyan scientific world is sounding the alarm: an invasive snail - the apple snail or Pomacea canaliculata - which is wreaking havoc in rice fields has been discovered in the country. The Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service (KEPHIS) underlines the very negative impact it has in Asia and the need to assess the risk for Africa and implement appropriate measures. That said, the risk is known. In Europe, the alarm bells were sounded in 2018, the mollusk threatening Catalan rice in Spain. The Catalan Food Research and Technology Institute (IRTA) then found that sea water, salt water, was a remedy. "In one area in particular, it can be more economical, more efficient and more environmentally friendly to use salt water by flooding the rice fields with sea water," said the agronomist of the Institute, Marie Del Mar Català to Euronews. Coming back to Kenya, scientific authorities are particularly concerned because the snail was first detected in the Mwea irrigation area in the ...