Disseminate climate smart Integrated Pest Management (IPM) technologies for control of fruit fly and reduction of postharvest losses in avocados
Avocado is the leading export fruit in Kenya. The demand and the prices of the fruit both in export and local markets have been on the increase for a number of years now reaching 35/- and 20/- per fruit for export and local market respectively this year. In 2014, for example Kenya earned a total of 2.3 billion from export of avocado mainly in EU market. The rise of demand has been caused by realization of the health benefit as well as increased processing activities. However avocado value chain is facing various challenges which prevent realization of its full potential. Top among them is the fruit fly infestation at production stage which causes major losses at farm and post-harvest levels. The total loss is estimated to be as high as 30% at both levels. In addition fruit fly infestation affects market access of the crop since the pest is a quarantine pest. Besides fruit fly infestation farmers often harvest immature fruits which end up spoiling the market. Over the years KALRO has developed integrated pest management options which are environmentally friendly, for the control of fruit fly on avocado. These include: pheromone traps, field sanitation, use of attractants, and soft chemical. These technologies if disseminated to farmers would reduce infestation by at least 20%. In addition farmers would be trained on the appropriate maturity index which would ensure only mature fruits are marketed. Sub activities include
- Avail quality planting materials of avocado varieties developed by KALRO
- Disseminate technologies for avocado production developed by KALRO
- Capacity building on IPM and good agronomic practices (GAP)
- Facilitate availability of inputs for IPM
- Link farmers to markets and input suppliers
- Establish and operationalise innovation platforms in value chain
- Enhance value addition and job creation in the product value chain
- Capacity building on collective marketing
- Linkage of farmers to markets
- Establish and operationalise innovation platforms in value chain
- Enhance value addition and job creation in the product value chain
- Promote farmer to farmer learning exchange tours