Fighting pests the natural way

Farmers must avoid unnecessary expenses. Before spending money to overcome any problem, the farmer should first exhaust all other alternatives of dealing with it without necessarily using money.

Many people are engaged in gainful crop production without spending a lot of money on pesticides. Sometimes they even compare the possible consequences of the damage caused by the presence of some pests in the garden with the amount of money that would be spent on pesticides before deciding what steps to take.

Check your source of planting material to ensure they are pest free.

The use of good clean seed is more likely to give crops a healthy start and vigorous quick growth before the accumulation of pests in the garden. Observe what agriculturalists refer to as good crop hygiene. It is about keeping the garden free of any diseased or dead plants.

They should be evacuated by burning. Various pests hang around a dead plant for several months and they use it as a base from which they can invade other plants.

It is also advisable to remove all crop residues after harvesting. They can pass on pests from the previous harvest to the newly planted crops.

Planting the same crop in the same garden every year can encourage the accumulation of the same pests in a garden plot.

Rotate crops from one plot to another every planting season. Some pests are attracted by the weeds that grow in our gardens.

Make sure there are no weeds in the garden before and after planting.

In their groups and through their area agricultural extension staff the farmers should endeavour to create a relationship with seed breeders under the National Agricultural Research Organisation (Naro) to obtain good quality and high yielding seed varieties. Some seed varieties are also bred to resist pests.

Some people effectively fight pests by setting traps. Coffee farmers often physically fight the coffee twig borer by plucking off affected twigs and burning them.

Many banana farmers lay traps for banana weevils. They can also reduce weevil attack by placing mulch about a metre away from around the banana stem.