CABI and partners step up fight against devastating papaya mealybug on more farms in Kenya

Published 2024년 7월 9일

Tridge summary

CABI, in collaboration with Kenyan partners, is using the environmentally friendly biological control agent, Acerophagus papayae, to control the papaya mealybug pest in five additional counties in Kenya. This agent, which has shown to cause up to 75% mortality of the pest, is part of an Integrated Pest Management plan that aims to reduce the use of chemical pesticides. The treatment, funded by the PlantwisePlus programme and the Darwin Initiative, has led to a doubling of papaya harvests and a 20% increase in farmers' income. The study, published in Crop Protection, also highlights the importance of smallholder farmers in the rapid multiplication and spread of the parasitoid on farms.

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Original content

CABI, working with key Kenyan partners, is helping to protect livelihoods and food security by fighting the devastating papaya mealybug (Paracoccus marginatus) pest in five more major papaya growing counties in Kenya.Scientists from CABI’s regional centre for Africa in Nairobi have recently deployed Acerophagus papayae – an environmentally friendly and safe-to-use biological control agent – in the inland Kenya counties of Machakos, Makueni, Embu, Tharaka Nithi and Baringo, where smallholder farmers are affected by the pest.This means CABI scientists and colleagues from the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organisation (KALRO), the Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service (KEPHIS) and the National Museums of Kenya (NMK) are now fighting the pest – which can destroy whole crops – in total of eight counties across the country.The work is funded by the CABI-led PlantwisePlus programme, which has over 150 plant clinics in Kenya that assist farmers with their plant health ...

Source: Cabi