Author: admin

Thrips, order Thysanoptera, are tiny, slender insects with fringed wings. They feed by puncturing the epidermal (outer) layer of host tissue and sucking out the cell contents, which results in stippling, discolored flecking, or silvering of the leaf surface. Thrips feeding is usually accompanied by black varnishlike flecks of frass (excrement).

Pest species are plant feeders that discolor and scar leaf, flower, and fruit surfaces, and distort plant parts or vector plant pathogens. Many species of thrips feed on fungal spores and pollen and are often innocuous. However, pollen feeding on plants such as orchids and African violets can leave unsightly pollen deposits and may reduce flower longevity. Certain thrips are beneficial predators that feed on other insects and mites.

Read More

The crop protection industry is dominated by the large multinational agro-chemical companies such as Syngenta, Monsanto and Bayer Cropscience. The biocontrol business is minute in comparison, with only 3% of global sales of crop protection products. The future of the biocontrol industry is based on a range of interacting factors and difficult to predict the future, however many are suggesting that its future is likely to grow. There are numerous drivers for the use of biological control.

Pesticide resistance.
Whether a pest or a disease, most organisms have the ability to become resistant to a large range of pesticides. This is often seen in the field where one season a particular pesticide works well and later the efficacy is not there. Resistance has been reported in many common groups of insecticides and fungicides.

Read More

Briefly discuss Barnaba Rotich (Background-Personal and a professional)
My love for farming started way back when I was a little kid. I was raised in a farm and as I was growing up I enjoyed playing with farm machineries and had fun during agricultural classes throughout primary and secondary school. So I was delighted when I got admitted to JKUAT to pursue a Bsc. Degree in Horticulture.

In December 2001 I did my last exam on a Friday and started work with Dudutech the following Monday and within one year I got promoted from Field Trials Officer to a Production Manager in charge of one line of insects and thereafter to the position of Production Coordinator in charge of all insect production lines. By March 2005, I was seconded to Dudutech’s sister company in South Africa to set up one of the biggest IPM projects in the Southern Africa at the time. I came back to Kenya after one year stint and took a new role as Technical Manager again in insect production and got promoted to Commercial &Technical Sales Manager a position I have been for 5 years.

Read More

Briefly discuss Irene Njeru (background-personal and as a grower)

I am a graduate in horticulture with a Masters in business administration (Entrepreneurship) and a Post graduate diploma in marketing. I started my working life in 1999 in the floriculture industry until now mostly in pack house, quality and marketing departments. in different flower farms.

You have been marketing flowers for most of your professional life, if you would have to give your remarks about being a flower marketer, what would they be?

Being a flower marketer is very interesting, has its challenges especially during low periods but gives great satisfaction when I am able to take the company successfully through this hard times. The success of the company depends largely how the sales and marketing strategies are implemented.

In your experiences, briefly discuss the vase life and transportability and marketing of flowers in Kenya?

The products from Kenya have a good vase life compared to products from other countries mostly because of the information that is readily available to growers on different post harvest treatments and also because of the seriousness of the partners in business on the cool chain process.

Transportation of flowers from Kenya to various destinations is not a problem as there are enough flights that pass our country however there is limitation of business with some countries due to very expensive freight rates an example being America.

Read More

A blind boy sat on the steps of a building with a hat by his feet. He held up a sign which said: “I am blind, please help.” There were only a few coins in the hat. A man was walking by. He took a few coins from his pocket and dropped them into the hat. He then took the sign, turned it around, and wrote some words.

He put the sign back so that everyone who walked by would see the new words.

Soon the hat began to fill up. A lot more people were giving money to the blind boy. That afternoon the man who had changed the sign came to see how things were. The boy recognized his footsteps and asked, “Were you the one who changed my sign this morning? What did you write?” The man said, “I only wrote the truth. I said what you said but in a different way.” I wrote: “Today is a beautiful day but I cannot see it.”

We live in a great country that God created so beautifully with bushes where the wild animals live in harmony, the great beaches where the Indian Ocean rests so peacefully in the coastal region, the snowcapped mountain that is so highly recognized and the great landscapes of the rift valley, beautiful farms with rice, wheat, coffee, tea, fruits and flowers, herds of cows, goats and all the livestock, and most of all the great diversity in the people; Bantu’s, Cushites and Nilotes! All blended together to make this great land called Kenya.

Read More