The agricultural sector contributes 25% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), 60% of export earnings and 75% of the country’s industrial raw materials. However, diseases caused by microorganisms lower production by over 25%. Tomato and potato production is prone to overuse/misuse of synthetic Pesticides. Some diseases such as Bacterial wilt have no known remedy. Of immediate concern is the increase in volumes of pesticides imported including those banned in other parts of the world. However, consumers may not be aware of the risks associated with pesticide residues and farmers also have few or no alternatives. We seek to provide some alternatives.
In 2018, Kenya imported 17,803 metric tonnes of pesticides and these include those banned in other parts of the world. For a tomato farmer to deliver a healthy produce to the market, they will have sprayed their crop a minimum of 8 times using at least 5 insecticides and 6 fungicides to control either microbial pathogens or insects.
However, nature provides safer alternatives in form of biologicals (antagonists or predators) that if availed; they could alleviate the burden of toxic synthetic chemicals. Biological control agents allow reduced application frequency, less cost and a remedy for stubborn pathogens e.g Bacterial wilt, powdery mildew, bacterial blight etc. In The Kenyan market, there are only Four bacterial and 10 Fungal products respectively. The current players produce mainly for the export market. However, small-scale farmers are not catered for. We propose to introduce novel products that we have developed from our research for control of common diseases in the tomato and potato production systems for a start. We are looking for partners with whom we can produce the biocontrol agents in large volumes, carry out field trials, register with PCPB and take the product to market.