In Kenya, a solution to counter the menace of the fruit flies, rampant among small holder farmers, is now available. According to ICIPE, in Africa fruit flies annually cause losses to fruits and vegetables estimated at over USD $2 billion through direct damage to fruits and loss of export opportunities.
Dubbed the Fruit Fly Mania, this protein bait, made from brewer’s yeast, was developed through the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE) research, and is being commercially produced for farmers, by Kenya Biologics.
Henry Ngari a farmer from Embu in Eastern Kenya since 1987, said that on his 4.5 acre orchard with 400 trees, in one season he lost about 30 to 40 percent of his mangoes to fruit flies. But since Ngari began using fruit fly mania, and ensuring orchard hygiene, losses have reduced to less than 10 percent.
As a result, every mango season Ngari can make on average Ksh300, 000 about USD $2900, but when fruit flies were rampant, he made less than Ksh200, 000 about USD $1933. “This technology has been a success,” said Ngari.
The bait, laced with an intoxicant, attracts female fruit flies within the orchard and, when they feed on it, they die. That interrupts their breeding cycle and population in the orchards. Fruit fly mania application can continue on a weekly or bi-weekly basis if fruit flies are still present, until all the fruits are harvested.
ICIPE studies from pilot trials show fruit fly mania reduced maggot infestation in fruits from over 80 percent to 5 to 9 percent of total fruit production. “If you consider that growers lose up to 80 percent of their production without any control, this is a significant success rate,” said Dr Ekesi.
In a season an acre of an orchard requires one 400ml bottle of fruit fly mania which costs about USD $2.42.
source: cleanleap.com
