State seeks to raise mango yields

By Joseph Muchiri

The fortunes of mango farmers in Embu County are set to change after a drive to supply fruit fly traps kicked off in the area.

The Ministry of Agriculture in conjunction with International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (Icipe) have been supplying flytraps and popularising other mechanisms to farmers in Karurumo.

The nagging flies usually deposit eggs inside a ripening mango fruit. The eggs then hatch into larvae and bore into the flesh of the mango, making the fruit rot and fall to the ground.

Agricultural officials are hoping to control and eradicate the flies that lead to substantial losses of fruits once they attack a mango tree.

Kieni Division Agricultural Extension officer Albert Munyi said that they have supplied the traps in Karurumo and Ugweri area and they will then go to Kigumo, before spreading to other parts of the country.

Munyi said the loss from fruit flies can be as high as 100 per cent in Kent and Sensation types of mangoes if one does not spray insecticides, ranging between 30 to 40 per cent in other types.

“Our aim is to improve the quality of mangoes and make them exportable to other countries,” said Munyi.

 The traps consist of a plastic container containing a wick socked with pheromone and an insecticide.

The pheromone attracts male fruit flies, which falsely think they would come to mate with a female but once they touch the insecticide, they die.

The female fruit flies then lack a male to mate with and their population declines drastically. Afterwards, spraying the mango trees with mesophone kills the female fruit flies.

Save money

Munyi said as an additional measure, they are also encouraging the farmers to bury their infected mangoes. “We are also advising the farmers to get an augmentorium net where one can put all the rotten fruits and since no fly can penetrate inside the net, they will not breed,” added Munyi.

He said the methods they are promoting will save money and time, conserve the environment and also produce organically grown fruits, which are in high demand and easy to export.

He revealed that last year, some parts of the Kieni division harvested good mangoes free of fruit flies of which they were able to export several tonnes to Uganda and South Sudan.