The fruit fly, a pest that has plagued mango farmers for years, has an unlikely foe — its own species.
A new technology uses the pest as a host to a fungus that ensures the fruit fly’s own destruction.
Devised by Real IPM Kenya and the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology, the technology which uses auto dissemination to reach other bugs has so far proved to be 100 per cent efficient, officials say.
“The technology uses an auto dissemination device to attract the fruit fly. The device is laced with a hormone that attracts one of the genders,” explains Sylvia Maina, a project manager at the Kenya Feed the Future Innovation Engine.
Maina explains that once the pest has entered into the device, the fungus attaches itself onto the fruit fly and carries its own killer all the way to its nesting place. This allows the fungus to spread and kill the other fruit flies.
The fungus, an isolate of Metarhizium anisopliae Icipe 69, is applied to the soil and can also be sprayed on the mango plant’s leaves.
A report by KFFIE indicates that commercial trials to test the innovation confirmed that the fungus can control all fruit fly species.
Previous efforts to control the pest using pesticides could not work, costing farmers about 80 per cent in mango losses.
Farmers also lost lucrative overseas markets, after the European Union banned the export of mangoes from East Africa, due to the use of chemicals to control the pest.
However, farmers using the fungus control method say fruit fly infestation has reduced by about 40 per cent, while mango seed weevil infestation has declined by about 30 per cent, says the KFFIE report.
“There are a lot of lost opportunities for Kenya mango farmers as a result of trying to manage this fruit fly menace,” argues Maina. “REAL IPM is an important innovation because it has the potential to improve a lot of lives and also improve nutrition locally.”
She says the technology has also been successfully tested on apple orchards in South Africa and so far 100 farmers in Kenya have been trained on its use.
To make the auto dissemination devices, farmers use vessels such as plastics which litter the environment.
“Farmers testing the innovation have also noted that use of the fungus significantly reduced their labour and crop protection budgets,” says the report.
Devised at a cost of Sh7.3 million, the REAL IPM innovation won funding from the United States Agency for International Development.
It has so far been tested in four counties, namely Machakos, Meru, Embu and Makueni.
KFFIE identifies promising innovations while providing funding and technical assistance to help private sector companies to test their products, scale them up and eventually position them into the market.
The 2015 KFFIE report says the technology will reach smallholder farmers through agrovets and other local distribution chains once it has been approved by the Pest Control Product Board.
Its success in Kenya may also inspire the lifting of the export ban once control is exhibited on a national scale, argues the report.
“We are now poised to make this technology as widely available as possible as soon as registration is approved in Kenya,” says Maina.