Mwea Farmers Finally Have A cure To Their Plight
After seven years of destruction, farmers in Mwea can finally smile again. Scientists have found a cure to the snails wreaking havoc to their farms. Most affected areas are Kimbimbi, Mathangauta, Thiba, Kiorugari, Murubara and Nguka where rice is grown in large scale.
According to the Mwea farmers, the aquatic snails are eating up the young rice plants. Leaving a trail of destruction in the rice fields. The farmers had expressed fear that the snails may clear everything if urgent measures were not taken. A farmer, Mr Robinson Kibicho, recalled how the snails destroyed his crop at Kimbimbi.
“I had to plant again after the rice I had planted was eaten by the snails,” he explained. A majority of the farmers are counting losses and they had appealed to both the national and county governments to intervene. The farmers said they depended on rice to feed and educate their children and thanked the scientists for coming up with a solution to their problems.
Experts from the irrigation board were working around the clock to develop a pesticide to control the snails. The scientists have finally come up with a solution. Earlier, the scientists used extracts from garlic and neem plants but they were not effective in controlling the snails.
“The extract from chenopodium quinon plant also known as saponins. It has worked wonders. We made a pesticide from saponins and it is killing snails when applied in water.” Dr Kinoti, who is the Biosnail Project Coordinator at JKUAT, explained. Dr Kinoti observed that the snails are highly destructive but there was no cause for alarm since research on an effective pesticide had borne fruit.
“The snails have destroyed 40 percent of the crop and farmers are replanting,” he said. He revealed that his team was coordinating well with the scheme manager Innocent Ariemba to make the control measure successful.
