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Project Record

Objectives:

Promotion of pro-poor strategies to reduce impact of key pests and diseases, improve yield and reduce pesticide hazards in peri-urban systems.

Background:

Vegetable production constitutes a key component of the livelihood strategy of an estimated 2 million people in Kenya. Existing practices to overcome pests and diseases rely heavily on pesticides, presenting hazards to operators and loss of useful biodiversity. Moreover many pesticides are being withdrawn in Europe, with ramifications for the export market. Fewer products will be allowed so farmers will need to integrate more rational use of carefully chosen pesticides with use of alternative pest management strategies developed by a number of DFID/CPP-funded research projects and by the commercial horticultural sector. The research findings relating to beneficial cultural, genetic, biological and chemical methods must now be translated into tangible developmental impact. The project will do this by developing new training resource materials and a training programme that will be implemented using a two-step model within the private, public and NGO sectors. The project objective is to maximise the beneficial developmental impact of vegetable production (revenues, nutrition, gender equality, foreign exchange), while minimising the current negative impact of methods to deal with major pest and disease constraints (health of growers, consumers and the environment). The work will also enable Kenyan export farmers to comply with new MRL regulations in Europe and avoid a catastrophic decline in earnings. This project will apply and promote knowledge on crop protection to enable a larger number of rural farmers to benefit from growing vegetables. Because vegetable production is important at different levels (small kitchen gardens to large export-focussed companies) the project will be relevant to a wide spectrum of people. The central theme of the project is to reduce the impact of pests and diseases and to make sure that hazards from pesticide use are reduced by their judicious use in conjunction with alternative technologies. A strengthened vegetable production sector will benefit some disadvantaged groups in Kenya. Employment opportunities for women are provided by the industry, particularly in the export sector where grading and packing add to the traditional job opportunities. Dietary benefits of vegetables have been shown to improve the health of children in particular. A diet rich in vitamins such as that provided by vegetables is required to prolong the lives of HIV victims receiving anti-retroviral drugs such as Nevirapine.

Intended Outputs:

A vegetable IPM Instructor's Resource Kit to be used by IPM Instructors in conjunction with existing dissemination resources such as handbooks and posters.

Team of 16 trained vegetable IPM instructors.

At least 500 farmers trained in, and adopting vegetable IPM techniques that incorporate technologies developed under CPP research.

Pathways and mechanisms identified in the private sector, government, NGO and extension services as possible networks for further dissemination.

Progress and Impact:

New vegetable IPM Instructor's Resource Kits were developed and used to train sixteen trainee IPM instructors. The kit was based on a training manual covering curriculums at two levels; a training of trainers course and farmer training materials for use by IPM Instructors in conjunction with existing dissemination resources such as handbooks and posters. The training manual contains guidance on course planning and delivery of sessions, practical training exercises, interactive games and materials that can be used in courses or issued as handouts. The manual concentrates on pest management in tomato, brassicas and green beans. The materials, all housed in a strong pilot case, are a tool to help plan and execute training. Kits included posters, books, calendars, calculators, spray equipment and a hand lens in addition to the manual. Usefulness of the individual components was rated very highly at the workshop that took place after the Instructor's farmer training. Several supplementary dissemination resource materials were produced, including a calendar of IPM and two posters that were translated into Kiswahili. The images for the calendar were based on pest management themes created by the project team. This and the posters were printed in Nairobi. The planned print run of 1,000 was doubled following negotiations with the printer. Having 2,000 of each resource enabled them to be widely distributed to stakeholders who included the two other CPP dissemination projects on IPM promotion (through CABI and ICIPE) and many horticultural and export companies, outgrowers and organisations with a training mandate in the horticultural industry. All of the farmers (>500) trained by the project received a calendar of IPM and at least two posters. Feedback on the materials was positive.

The project timetable was that after the manual had been drafted, a team of would-be vegetable IPM instructors was given a detailed six day intensive course in integrated pest management, then this team carried out individual farmer courses. These instructors, numbering sixteen, and selected from the private, government and NGO sectors had the opportunity on the ToT course to do mock farmer training lessons before doing the real thing when they gave their own courses within six weeks of the end of the primary course. The training curriculum covered; What is IPM, Hygiene and healthy soil, Choosing varieties, Recognition and control of brassica pests and diseases, Recognition and control of tomato pests and diseases, Control of weeds, Recognition and control of bean pests and diseases, Recognition of natural enemies, Encouragement of natural enemies, Scouting, Putting recognition and scouting into practice, Toxicity, safety and first aid, Selective pesticide application, Calibration and residue implications, Spraying techniques, Putting pesticide use into practice, Planning and targetting training, Training techniques, Visual aids, Evaluation of training and Putting training into practice.

When the team of instructors trained farmers (over 500 in number) in how to adopt vegetable IPM techniques their secondary courses were funded by the project. Their trainees consisted of outgrower farmers and some small scale domestic vegetable growers. One third of the trainers' courses were observed by the project team while they taught farmers. Getting farmers to 'do' rather than merely 'listen' had been stressed on the primary ToT course and their own farmer courses were clearly being carried out in a far more participatory way than the traditional lecturing style commonly used with farmers.

Throughout the project, feedback and comments were captured. Information was gathered anonymously from participants after the ToT course and farmer courses. Usefulness of training kit components was also rated, and feedback comments were compiled from trainers and farmers, including how the courses could be improved and what additional resources would have helped.

Project Conclusions:

The number of printed materials produced and disseminated was greater than that planned. In terms of numbers trained, the 500 or so farmers who the project reached is only a small proportion of the production base that consists of many thousands. However, the training manual and other resources produced by the team will be a major resource in the longer term. Used to carry out courses at several levels, the project expects the numbers trained eventually to far exceed the sixteen trainers and many hundreds of farmers who have already been reached by the project. The project has contributed to the capacity to respond to the national and international groundswell of food safety, human safety and environmental protection, measures that are increasingly affecting the horticultural industry. It has done this by helping growers to overcome the important limiting factor - ability to control pests safely and sustainably. In this way it has made a useful contribution to the wider goal - Promotion of pro-poor strategies to reduce impact of key pests and diseases, improve yield and reduce pesticide hazards in peri-urban systems'.

Publications:

DOBSON, H.M., MATTHEWS, G.A., OLEMBO, S., BALEGUEL, P. and WILES, T.L. (2004) Application challenges for small-scale African farmers: a training initiative in Cameroon. Pp. 385 - 392. In: International Advances in Pesticide Application. Aspects of Applied Biology 71, 2004.

Associated References:

R8299, R8297