Insect Management in Cereals

Once fields are properly scouted, data can be used to determine insect control options. Course of action should be started only when you are fully armed with up-to-date, accurate information writes Thomas Kipkorir

Proper crop rotation with alternate crops is an essential practice in any crop production to reduce buildup of insects, weeds and diseases. Insect attacks do not always result in economic injury, so certain insect management practices can be used to ensure cost-effective control decisions.

Scouting for insects.
Depending on location and when the crop is planted, insect problems vary from non-existent to severe. Identifying the pest and understanding its potential for damage is necessary when selecting appropriate control methods. Each pest does not respond the same way to a given method. Monitor fields at least twice per week. Walk a “V” or “W” pattern through the field and select plants from 12 random locations along the pattern. When plants are still small (up to 10 leaves), examine 6 adjacent plants per location for insects and disease. As plants get larger sample 3 leaves per plant on 6 adjacent plants per location (total of 216 leaves).

Insects cause injury to the leaves, stems, roots, and fruit. The developmental stage of the plant at the time of attack often governs which plant part different insect pests may injure. However, some insects feed specifically on one plant structure; others may feed on several structures. The first step in control is to identify the insect.

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Maize Granaries of Kenya

Your Ability to Analyze a Situation is Your Biggest Effect

Farmers tend to market their maize crop immediately after harvest in order to meet their financial obligations and to prepare for the next season. Due to this practice, maize supply becomes artificially higher than the demand thereby forcing prices to drop; only to increase within four months after selling to discuss this cereals magazine got hold of George Hopf then General Manager Panacol.

Briefly discuss Maize growing in Trans Nzoia County and the country as a whole?
Maize farming in Trans Nzoia has been the main activity since colonial times and has always been described as the maize granaries of Kenya. The difference between now and then is that the big farms that used to produce bulk of maize is no longer there as most have been sold and sub divided in to small plots that can only produce subsistence crop for families and little as commercial crop. Big parastatals like ADC and Kenya Seed have set foot in Trans Nzoia as commercial producers of maize seed and maize farming but were run down and most of their farms subdivided to individuals as settlement schemes. These actions have created shortages of supply to the buyer, the National Cereal Board of Kenya. Trans Nzoia enjoys suitable climate, soils and rainfall patterns that enable maize to do well and produce optimally. In the country as whole maize growing is practiced everywhere as it provides the stable meals of most Kenyans but nowhere else it is done in the scale of Trans Nzoia. The weather patterns favour other crops like wheat, coffee and tea but maize growing is the most practiced.

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Agriculture Needs New partnership structure

Agriculture Needs New partnership structure to fulfill its socio-economic potential, says expert

By Moses Wasamu

The challenges to achieving global food security are enormous. Experts say that at least 900 million people do not get enough food to eat, global population is expected to increase by 2 billion by 2050 and scientists are battling the threat of climate change, which causes erratic weather patterns and global warming.

And all these factors, plus many others, affects the income of farmers and peoples livelihoods.

Gagan Khurana, co-founder at Maxiterra, an agricultural innovation and technology organisation, says that because of rapid development in agriculture planning, solutions which have worked before may not be relevant any more. Therefore, he proposes new partnership structures that will enable agriculture to improve and fulfill its social and economic potential.

In a presentation made in Mexico to mark 50 years of International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) work in the world, Gagan said that significant issues exist at every stage of the value chain which hinder progress. Gagan says that subsistence farmers (smallholders) are stuck in a poverty trap preventing them from improving their livelihood.

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Welcome to Kenya’s Food Basket

Agricultural sector is the major source of employment for over 80% of the rural population directly while a sizeable number of the county residents are employed in the few smallscale agro-processing industries. The main crops produced in the county are maize, beans, wheat, tea and potatoes. Other crops include coffee and horticultural crops. The total acreage under food crops is 143,807.5 hectares while that under cash crops is 1477.12 hectares. The average farm sizes ranges from 0.60705 hectares for small scale farming to 80.94 hectares for large-scale farming.

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