Mozambique: 40,000 Hectares of Farmland Lost Because of Pesticide Abuse

In the 2018-19 agricultural campaign, Mozambique lost over 40,000 hectares of cultivated land because of the abuse of pesticides in the attempt to control insect pests.

Aderito Lazaro of the Plant Health Department in the Ministry of Agriculture, said "the use of chemicals should be a last resort. However, at the first sign of a pest, the producers grab their pesticides, and one of the mistakes is that they use the same substance repeatedly. They should rotate".

Lazaro cited the case of Boane district, 30 kilometres west of Maputo, where farmers had doubled the amount of pesticides used per week - without getting rid of the pests damaging the maize crop. Insects are showing signs of resistance to pesticides throughout the country.

The Agriculture Ministry, in partnership with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), has publicised methods to handle pests through an integrated range of measures, including not only conventional insecticides, but also biological pesticides and improved seed.

Meanwhile, a new pest is threatening banana growers in Chokwe district, in the Limpopo valley. This is the banana bunchy top virus (BBTV). To prevent the spread of the virus the authorities are destroying infected banana trees in several plantations.

"This virus is lethal, and regardless of whether we cut the trees down or not, they will die", said Celso Rufasse, coordinator of the BBTV project, cited by the independent daily "O Pais".

"If we don't cut the trees down, there will be a greater dispersal of the disease", he continued. "The goal is to avoid the spread of the virus, so that we can eradicate the disease".

Destroying the infected plants began a month ago, and so far almost 30,000 banana trees have been cut down in Chokwe. There is ban in place on the movement of bananas from Chokwe to elsewhere in the country.

The elimination of infected plants is budgeted at 20 million meticais (about 323,000 US dollars), and this task is receiving assistance from South Africa and the United States.

The virus is transmitted plant to plant by banana aphids. The virus damages the cells of the host plant, and usually prevents it from producing fruit. Any fruit that is produced is likely to be deformed.

Since there are no varieties of banana that are resistant to the virus, the only ways to eliminate the disease are to control the aphids, or to remove and destroy infected plants before the virus spreads.

https://allafrica.com/stories/201907170819.html

Zimbawe: Seed Treatment Chemical To Fight Fall Armyworm Infestation

Agrochemical company Syngenta is set to introduce a maize seed variety treated chemically, which is said to protect the developing seed against the pest for several weeks after germination.

A spokseman for a company distributing Syngenta products in Zimbabwe said, "FD is a seed treatment chemical.It will have an effect of protecting the crop against fall armyworm during its early stages. It remains in the plant system for the first four weeks after germination, so you won’t need to spray against FAW during that period.”

He said the seed was undergoing necessary regulatory approvals before it was released on the market. The seed has been introduced in countries such as Argentina, Belize, Brazil, Canada, China, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico, Paraguay and Turkey.

Full article...

Nigeria To Ban Atrazine, Paraquat Use By Farmers

Nigeria’s National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC)has announced plans to ban the use of paraquat by farmers amid mounting evidence that the product hurts applicators and the environment.

The decision is coming at a time when new herbicides that are more safe and environmentally friendly are being registered in Africa’s most populous country.

“Paraquat has been banned in several countries and we can not continue to allow it to come into Nigeria, Other herbicides to be banned include atrazine,” a NAFDAC official said..

The regulatory agency also announced stricter measures to curtail the use of Snipper (Dichlorvos or 2,2-dichlorovinyl dimethyl phosphate) in homes to end the abuse of the pesticide which in recent times has been associated with suicides in Nigeria.

Full article... Nigerian Tribune

South Africa's First Licensed Crop-Spraying Drone Takes Flight

After a lengthy process, a crop-spraying drone took its first legal flight in South Africa in May 2019.

The South African Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) granted a licence to Durban-based ROC holder DC Geomatics, who operates the drone. The company proved drones equipped with crop spraying operation specifications are safe to use, passing CAA regulations.

Drones can get much closer to crops than planes - to approximately 1.5 to 3 metres above the plants. This allows for more precise application, and is close enough to spray almost 100% of field areas of this challenging terrain.

The drones can be automated to fly a fixed route, at a fixed height above the crop. This is thanks to sensors and GPS mapping on the drones that are smart enough to adjust their height according to the terrain. This allows for farmers to remove human error and maximize the surface area of fields.

...drones also more fuel efficient, using up to 60% less fuel (used in generators to charge the batteries), than in manned aircraft.

Full article...

Increased use of pesticides to raise health, environmental costs: UN

Rising pesticide use in Africa is causing elevated levels of related illnesses which could cause as much as $90 billion to deal with in the fifteen year period between 2005 and 2020, according to the United Nations UN Environment Programme (UNEP.)

...the increasing production of chemicals, especially in emerging economies where there are weaker safeguards, is damaging the environment and increasing health costs.

...chemical production in Africa is expected to grow by about 40%, compared with growth of about 25% in North America and Europe, 50% in the Asia-Pacific region, and about 33% in Latin America.

Guardian

Cocoa crop pesticide runs out in Nigeria, threatening harvest

by Vincent Nwanma

Cocoa output from Nigeria, the fourth-biggest producer, is threatened by the shortage of an insecticide to fight mirids, the country’s cocoa association said.

Wet weather has brought on an onslaught of mirids, insects that attack cocoa leaves, Robo Adhuze, spokesman for the association, said on February 16. They could damage up to 40 percent of the crop, “if not treated quickly and adequately.”

Patemglobal Nigeria Ltd., which said it is the country’s main supplier of the insecticide Actara 25WG, has sold out of the product, said Patrick Ikemefuna, managing director. The company is waiting for more deliveries.

Adhuze is concerned because farmers need the insecticide immediately. “The rains have started and the chemical should be in use by now, but the likelihood is that the farmers will use unapproved chemicals or nothing at all,” he said. If that happens the bean quality could be rejected by the European Union and Japanese buyers, Adhuze said.

Output in the 2010-11 season was expected to be about 230,000 metric tons, or about 5 percent of global production, according to Marex Spectron Group Ltd.

Nigeria ranks behind the Ivory Coast, Ghana and Indonesia as the world’s largest cocoa producer, according to the website of the International Cocoa Organization.

Bloomberg

Pyrethrum growing sector in Kenya faces many challenges

by Paul Wafula

In July 2008, then Kenya Pyrethrum Growers Association national chairman Justus Monda dismissed reports that pyrethrin stock worth over Sh1.5 billion had been stolen from the State-owned corporation.


He said the money had been used in 2004 by the Pyrethrum Board of Kenya (PBK) to clear an outstanding bank overdraft.

This was not the first time allegations of the mysterious loss of the insecticide killer ingredient were made.

In a Parliamentary Select Committee on Agriculture hearing, Mr John Macharia Kamau, a farmer in Narok, informed MPs investigating the collapse of the industry that farmers were not paid their 2002 bonus and for their 2003 deliveries, only to be told that “rats ate” their produce.

But unclassified records seen by Smart Company show that top managers at the Pyrethrum Board of Kenya (PBK) conspired to loot over Sh2.7 billion worth of pyrethrin stock between 2001 and 2005, pushing the State-owned corporation to its knees.

The documents that vindicate a forensic audit adopted by Parliament in February 2009 also suggest that delay by the prosecuting arm of the government to act on corruption cases may have abetted the decade-long plunder of PBK’s resources.

The records also reveal that channels of corruption ran deep and spanned the tenures of several management teams that conspired to dip their hands into the tills of the parastatal.

“Between 2001 and 2005, PBK lost stock worth Sh2.7 billion. The Criminal Investigations Department was called to investigate the losses. The CID has not submitted its findings to date,” read a management audit report prepared by the Inspectorate of State Corporations for the Office of the President.

The management report shows that as late as October 2007, PBK had no policy or systems on imprest and advances, enabling more than 670 of its staff and board members to get cash at will.

“No imprest register is maintained and as the team found out, board members and staff had left PBK with huge debts whose recovery is uncertain. As at 1 October 2007, debts totalling Sh21,159,152.80 were owed to PBK by both staff and board members,” reads the report.

The fact that the debts have been pending for more than six years further dims hopes of the firm ever recovering these monies since the current legislation favours debtors.

Trouble at the firm first emerged in March 2003 after a fire broke out at the PBK factory in Nakuru and extensively damaged one of the extraction plants.

Consequently, due to huge stocks of pyrethrum flower which were vulnerable to degradation, PBK was given authority by the government to transport it in grist form to Rwanda for processing.

Grist weighing 2,381.22 metric tonnes was transported to Rwanda, warming up relations with the Rwandese nationals and effectively taking graft to the regional level.

“The expectation of the board was that after extraction, 23,500.37 kilogrammes of pyrethrin was to be received from Rwanda. However, only 18,073,31 kilogrammes were received. Pyrethrin equivalent to 6,043.75 kilogrammes were never received at PBK.

“The board flouted the contents of the agreement signed between Rwanda and PBK and huge payments were made in cash as opposed to the agreed mode of payment through telegraphic transfer,” read the report.

Although the matter was recommended for investigation by the defunct Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission (KACC), not much ground has been covered.

“We are also concerned that despite telling evidence, the KACC is yet to take any action on the matter. As a committee, we are preparing to take on the KACC to find out why they have not acted as advised or if they also participated in the cover-up,” said Mr John Mututho, the chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Agriculture after a meeting that resolved to stop the State corporation from selling its assets in efforts to revive its operations.

The financially-troubled PBK is seeking government approval to dispose of part of its Sh4 billion assets to jump-start its operations.

The current managing director, Dr Isaac Mulagoli, said the board needs about Sh300 million for smooth operation, including servicing of loans and settling farmers’ dues.

“We are also preparing a legal framework that will liberalise the pyrethrum sector to avoid a repeat of the theft that was witnessed at the Pyrethrum Board of Kenya as well as give farmers an opportunity to have a choice when it comes to selling their flowers,” said Mr Mututho.

The forensic report reveals that then managing director Polyne Sego flouted government procedures and regulations and went against the board’s advice and some junior employees, who questioned unilateral decisions to make huge payments for the purchase of pyrethrum from Rwandese firm SOPYRWA to supplement declining local production.

“The managing director ignored proper advice given to her by the board, refinery manager, finance manager, and the management staff finance committee. Huge payments were paid to SOPYRWA at the expense of farmers. Most of the officers opposed to the importation have since been dismissed,” said the report.

The report recommended that Mrs Sego be held accountable for flouting government procedures by purchasing oleo resin from Rwanda before submitting the proposal to the tender committee.

“The idea to import oleo resin was noble, but the implementation was improper as government procedures and regulations were flouted with impunity by the managing director, Mrs Polyne Sego,” a report by the Inspectorate of State Corporations noted in the 2007 report.

It recommended that the MD be held accountable for approving the down payment of $500,000 (Sh36,500,000), in breach of the agreement and against the advice of the finance manager.

The board had also invested Sh150 million in the collapsed Euro Bank, contrary to the State Corporations Act, which required it to handle the money “in a manner directed by Treasury”.

“There was no authority granted by Treasury for investing such colossal amounts of money in Euro Bank,” the report said.

But it is the way the firm kept its financial records that exposed the depth of misappropriation.

According to the audit, PBK’s cash books, telephone, advances, and imprest registers were neither maintained nor kept as required.

The firm, as at October 2007, was operating more than one cash book and 20 local and five foreign bank accounts.

Sixteen of the local bank accounts were regional and their main purpose was to facilitate payments to farmers. The audit report shows that management was only able to provide information on 11 of the regional accounts.

“Despite the frequent enquiries by the team about the position of the last five accounts, no information was availed by management,” said the report. “Examination of the cash books availed to the team revealed that they were in shambles,” it said.

The team found that no reconciliation of cash books had been done for more than four months, neither were records of transactions maintained.

During random spot inspection, it was observed that cheques amounting to Sh252,841 written between March 2005 and June 2007 were still kept by clerks. Most of the cheques had gone stale, yet they were neither cancelled nor replaced.

“This clearly indicated that the amount indicated in financial reports as paid to farmers does not reflect a true position of arrears payable to them,” the report noted.

For residents of Nakuru who saw the factory in full operation in yesteryears, it would seem like a fairy tale to ask them to recall how it was when lorries laden with pyrethrum flowers from Kisii, Nyandarua, Limuru, Naivasha, Gilgil, Mau Narok, Molo, and Subukia would deliver their load before 2003. The silence now is deafening.

The Nation

U.S. seeks public comment on ban of herbicide Atrazine

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is currently seeking public comments regarding a potential ban on Atrazine, one of the most widely used herbicides in the United States. The chemical, produced by Swiss agrochemical company Syngenta, has been banned in the European Union since 2004, but 80 million pounds of it are applied to U.S. farms and lawns each year.

Atrazine, the most commonly detected herbicide in American groundwater, is used primarily on corn, sugar cane, rice, sorghum, golf courses and lawns. The EPA’s call for comments was prompted by more than 60,000 petition signatures and emails received from supporters of various nonprofit groups. Comments will be accepted through Nov. 14, 2011.

Atrazine is a potent endocrine disruptor that, at concentrations as low as 2.5 parts per billion, has been shown to cause immunosuppression, hermaphroditism and even complete sex reversal in male frogs. The herbicide has been linked to reproductive defects in fish and prostate and breast cancer in laboratory rodents, and epidemiological studies suggest it is carcinogenic to humans. Atrazine is extremely persistent in the environment. It is still detectable in France 15 years after its last usage there. More than half a million pounds of Atrazine return to the Earth each year in rain and snow after it is caught in the airstream following spraying.

Hobby Farms

Up to 40% of pesticides used in Tanzania are counterfeit

Attendees of a recent crop protection seminar in Tanzania heard that up to 40% of the the pesticides used in the country were counterfeit.

There are many types of 'fake' pesticides. Some have low concentration of the listed active ingredients, while others may not have them at all, being made up of fillers or chemicals different from those expected for a given product range. Farmers may buy them because of their lower cost compared to known brand name products.

A trainer at the seminar said that manufacturers of counterfeits often resort to cutting corners because of the high cost of product development associated with pesticides. He said the cost of bringing a product with a new active ingredient to market could be as high as $250 million. It can also take as long as nine years from the start of testing to being authorized to market the product.

As much as 40% of research and development costs are on environmental impacts.

Even with genuine pesticides, where farmer illiteracy levels are high and usage training levels are low, illness and fatalities associated with improper use or disposal are constant risks. Where counterfeit products are used these dangers are multiplied because of the unknown or inconsistent chemical composition.

African Agriculture

The horrific birth defects linked to tomato pesticides

by Barry Estabrook

The 'Immokalee babies' were born with severe deformities after their mothers were each exposed to pesticides whilst harvesting tomatoes. Barry Estabrook reports on the case that shocked the US

Tower Cabins is a labour camp ...just south of Immokalee, a city in the heart of southwest Florida’s tomato-growing region.

The community of poor migrant labourers is dreary at the best of times, but just before Christmas a few years ago, there were reasons for joy. Three women, all neighbours, were expecting children within seven weeks of each other. But in the lives of tomato workers, there is a fine line between hope and tragedy.

The first baby... was born with an extremely rare condition called tetra-amelia syndrome, which left him with neither arms nor legs.

About six weeks later, a few cabins away, Jesus Navarrete was born with Pierre Robin Sequence, a deformity of the lower jaw. As a result, his tongue was in constant danger of falling back into his throat, putting him at risk of choking to death. The baby had to be fed through a plastic tube.

Two days after Jesus was born, Maria Meza gave birth to Jorge. He had one ear, no nose, a cleft palate, one kidney, no anus, and no visible sexual organs. A couple hours later, following a detailed examination, the doctors determined that Jorge was in fact a girl. Her parents renamed her Violeta. Her birth defects were so severe that she survived for only three days.

In addition to living within one hundred yards of each other, Herrera, Maceda, and Meza had one other thing in common. They all worked for the same company, Ag-Mart Produce, Inc., and in the same vast tomato field.

From the rows of tomatoes where the women were working during the time they became pregnant, the view was not so cheery. A sign at the entry warned that the field had been sprayed by no fewer than thirty-one different chemicals during the growing season. Many of them were rated 'highly toxic,' and at least three, the herbicide metribuzin, the fungicide mancozeb, and the insecticide avermectin, are known to be 'developmental and reproductive toxins,' according to Pesticide Action Network. They are teratogenic, meaning they can cause birth defects.

If they are used, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency mandates 'restricted-entry intervals' (REIs in the jargon of chemical agriculture), the time that must elapse between when pesticides are applied and when workers can go into the fields. In all three cases, the women said they were ordered to pick the fruit in violation of REI regulations.

Although regulations require that handlers of many of these pesticides use protective eyewear, chemical-resistant gloves, rubber aprons, and vapour respirators, the three pregnant women said they had not been warned of the possible dangers of being exposed to the chemicals. They wore no protective gear, unless you count their futile attempts to avoid inhalation by covering their mouths with bandanas.

more...The Ecologist

Fake pesticides are a growing danger

by Caroline Henshaw

The illegal trade in counterfeit pesticides has grown into a multimillion-euro industry in Europe, putting consumers' lives and farmers' livelihoods at risk as unregulated and often toxic chemicals enter the food chain.

These untested and frequently substandard products can be hazardous to anyone handling them or to consumers buying contaminated food. Last year, for example, 28 metric tons of counterfeit pesticides destined for Lithuania were seized in Hamburg. Although they were packed alongside labels and measuring cups purporting to be made by three of the world's largest agrochemical makers, Bayer AG, Syngenta AG and E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Co., they actually contained more than 30% of a solvent called Dimethylformamide, which is banned in Europe because it is suspected to cause serious harm to pregnant women.

...even though it is illegal to import non-EU-approved chemicals into the European Union, a loophole in the bloc's legislation means many pesticide imports don't come under counterfeiting laws and therefore customs can't seize them. And although industry representatives are pushing for revisions to legislation due to be debated in the European Parliament in the coming months, they say little is likely to change anytime soon.


Under current EU law, the company whose goods have been imitated is expected to bear the costs of storage and destruction of any counterfeit goods seized by customs—bills that can often run into thousands of euros. Although these companies are technically able to claim back such costs from the counterfeiters, practically this can prove complicated and even impossible, as many of these companies are beyond EU jurisdiction or completely bogus. Other national bodies can act but rarely do, meaning customs officials are often forced to release the pesticides back to the importers.

Lobbyists are now pushing to create a system similar to the one that operates in the U.S., where if there is intent to counterfeit, all component parts can be seized, even if they are transported separately. Some are also pushing to make the shipping agents more legally accountable for moving counterfeit goods...

David Boubil, press officer for the EU's Trade and Customs Commission, says the EU is "streamlining" its laws to simplify the destruction of goods to make it faster and less expensive, and new regulations should come into force next year...

For farmers, the effects of using such chemicals can be devastating. In 2006, produce grown with unapproved chemicals made their way from farms in Andalucia, southern Spain, into the rest of Europe, costing the region's agricultural sector an estimated €20 million.

"The whole image of the sector and the price that consumers wanted to pay for the product dropped." says Carlos Palomar, director-general of the Asociación Empresarial para la Protección de la Plantas, a national plant-protection agency...

What makes combating the trade even harder is that there are no reliable statistics on the scale of the problem; in the EU's report on the counterfeit trade for 2010, pesticides were not included in their own category. But According to data from the European Crop Association, which represents the region's pest-control industry, estimates peg sales of illegal pesticides in Europe at anything from €400 million to €1.2 billion, or between 5% and 15% of the total EU pesticides market.

In some parts of Eastern Europe, particularly heavily agricultural Ukraine, illegal pesticides could make up as much as 50% of the total market, industry participants say. In 10%-20% of cases, farmers said they lost their entire crop because of the chemicals.

The EU official said the majority of the trade in illegal pesticides is now dominated by criminal gangs who are seeking to tap into the lucrative industry. Regulators say the pesticides are normally sold in Europe for between three and eight times the price the gangs buy them for in Asia.

Lithuanian customs acknowledge that the inflow of counterfeit pesticides has "worsened" in recent years as smugglers seek to exploit the more permeable borders of Eastern Europe. "Since the movement of goods is free in the EU, it is not difficult to import goods into the country where legal norms are more liberal and then transport the consignment to other countries where the norms are stricter," they said in a statement.

Yet regulators and lobby groups say the laws are still not an effective deterrent to the lucrative trade. Mr. Palomar, of the Spanish plant-protection agency, says his group has managed to raise awareness of the illegal trade with both police and farmers since, but the counterfeiters have found new ways to escape notice.

"They have started mixing real products with the Chinese" goods, he says. The people selling the fake products "move from one province [of Spain] to another using the same behavior--first they sell the good products at a good price, then put in the fake one."

full article...Wall Street Journal

Organic pesticides: Not an oxymoron

by Maureen Langlois

It may seem counterintuitive, but foods that are grown to organic standards can contain commercially manufactured pesticides.

A U.S. Department of Agriculture survey of produce that found nearly 20 percent of organic lettuce tested positive for pesticide residues.

... Jeff Gillman, a professor of nursery management at the University of Minnesota, has written about organic practices for lay readers. He said:

When people are buying organic food, they often make the incorrect assumption that there are no pesticides. It's true that organic production often uses fewer dangerous chemicals, but certain pesticides are allowed.

...a key factor in chemicals being cleared for use on organic crops is whether they occur naturally.

The USDA maintains an official list of substances that can and can't be used for organic farming. Other potent natural extracts that have been approved for use as pesticides include pyrethrin, derived from chrysanthemums, and azadirachtin, from the Asian neem tree, which was also detected on some samples of organic lettuce.All three of these substances are considered slightly toxic by the EPA.

Synthetic compounds can also make it onto the list as pesticides, if they are relatively nontoxic combinations that include minerals or natural elements, such as copper or sulfur. But some naturally occuring substances, such as nicotine and arsenic are off limits.

Are naturally derived pesticides less toxic than synthetic ones?

The answer depends a lot on the dosage, says Gillman. "To control fire blight on the same acre of land," he explains, "I could use a tiny amount of a potent synthetic that has proved safe over the last 50 years, or a much larger amount of an organic pesticide." He demurs on saying which is better, saying, "I want people to know that there are definitely tradeoffs."

The seeming contradiction between organic labeling and potentially harmful pesticide practices may lie in the relative leniency of the USDA organic guidelines, Gillman says. Various organic certification agencies, such as the Oregon Tilth, have tighter rules. (Check out this roundup of acceptable and forbidden pesticides.)

Gillman says just because an organic farmer used some authorized chemicals is no reason to shun the food. But it's important for consumers to know what's going on. For him, the answer to the ambiguity around organic labeling is to go local. "I go to the farmers market and talk to the growers to see who is serious about reducing pesticide use," he says. "I'd rather buy food from someone who used Roundup once than someone who uses organic pesticides all the time."

...full article...NPR

Asia rice output threatened by pesticide overuse

The unbridled manufacture and use of pesticides in Asia is raising the spectre of "pest storms" devastating the region's rice farms and threatening food security, scientists have warned.

Increased production of cheap pesticides in China and India, lax regulation and inadequate farmer education are destroying ecosystems around paddies, allowing pests to thrive and multiply, they said.

The problem has emerged over the last decade and -- if left unchecked -- pests could lay waste to vast tracts of Asia's rice farms, according to scientists who took part in a workshop in Singapore last week.

"There is increasing concern that the more we use pesticides in rice fields, it is actually making the pest problem worse," Australian scientist George Lukacs said in an interview.

Under pressure to raise yields to meet growing demand, poorly trained farmers tend to be over-reliant on the chemicals.

"There are big outbreaks of pests or what they are calling in China 'pest storms' as a result of the over-application of pesticides," Lukacs said.

Rice is a staple throughout much of Asia, including the world's two most populous countries, China and India, making the region vulnerable to soaring food prices and supply problems, economists say.

The UN food agency has said world food prices have already hit record highs and warned oil price spikes caused by upheavals in the Middle East and North Africa could push them even higher.

The Food Price Index, which monitors average monthly price changes for a variety of key staples, rose to 236 points in February from 231 points in January, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said.

It was the highest level since the FAO began monitoring prices in 1990.

Lukacs said Asia's rice supply was made more vulnerable by the reliance on a small number of varieties, meaning if a particular pest gets a foothold in a crop, it could spread rapidly.

"In some countries, the majority of rice production is based around two or three varieties of rice, so that actually increases the risk to international food security if there is a big disease out there," he said.

Lukacs said that in China and other parts of Asia, the unregulated use of chemicals has led to pests developing resistance.

The problem is compounded by indiscriminate application, which has destroyed the ecosystem surrounding the paddies, including the predators such as spiders and dragonflies that would normally keep pest numbers down.

"The predator pressure is gone and the pests don't respond (to pesticides) because they develop resistance very quickly," Lukacs said.

Lukacs, senior principal research scientist with the Australian Centre for Tropical Freshwater Research at James Cook University, said responsibility lies with the pesticide companies, governments and local communities.

Once a pesticide is registered with a country's national authority, there is no monitoring of how it is used, he said.

"(The industry is) remarkably unregulated. Beyond the registration, it's the Wild, Wild West," said Lukacs, who is also the expert on agriculture for the Ramsar Convention's Scientific and Technical Review Panel.

Lukacs and his fellow scientists are calling for closer cooperation among pesticide manufacturers, government regulators and local communities to come up with "best practices" in the production and use of the chemicals.

Pesticide makers must have "stewardship" of their products, while governments and communities should be responsible for regulation as well as training and education of the farmers, he said.

"Responsibility goes beyond just selling the drum, and that means trying to bring regulators, scientists and community members together," he said. "It's a serious problem and the worst is that we haven't seen the full effects yet."

AFP

Low wages, pesticide-exposure concerns in Uganda flower industry

by Tom Levitt

With its tropical climate and warm nights, Uganda, like neighbouring Kenya and Tanzania, has the perfect conditions for growing flowers. But, mired in allegations of worker exploitation and government corruption, can the flower industry in Uganda compete with its neighbours and offer the long-term hope of jobs and sustainable development?

Following in the footsteps of Kenya and Tanzania, Uganda steadily built up a flower industry during the 1990s. Despite early setbacks, including growing flowers that weren't ideally suited for the climate, the flower industry has now become a significant contributor to the national economy. The ten major flower farms produce exports, mainly of roses, worth US$35 million a year as well as employing an estimated 6,000 workers with a further 30,000 indirectly dependent through industries like transport and storage.

However, flower growing is still small by comparison with neighbouring competitors, with a total flower-growing area of only 200 hectares, far smaller than Tanzania and South Africa, and only a tenth of the 2,000 hectares in Kenya. After further setbacks, following European cut-backs on orders due to the global economic downturn, the industry may now be at a crossroads.

Accusations from local trade unions are that workers are poorly treated by flower companies and not adequately protected from exposure to pesticides used in flower growing. In a study by the Uganda Workers' Educational Association (UWEA) in 2010, 40 per cent of workers interviewed never used protective equipment and many suffered health problems.

A few major companies admit that there have been problems with the workforce but deny concerns over pesticides. Jacques Schrier, managing director of Fiduga Ltd, a major flower producer near the capital Kampala, says he was forced to sack two managers on his farm after he found out they were extorting salaries from other staff and having sex with female co-workers. But, he says, workers have twice-monthly blood tests to monitor any potential problems from pesticide exposure.

Helga Franklyn, a junior manager at another flower company, Jambo Roses, backs this up saying workers on their pesticide spraying team wear full protective clothing and are given pre-employment health checks to diagnose health problems, like asthma, before they start.

Both managers admit salaries are low at around 65,000 Ugandan Shillings (UGX) or US$25 a month. Workers on the spraying team get more - 250,000 UGX a month. Staff turnover is also high at more than ten per cent.
"Many just come for a month to get some money and then go," says Helga, who adds that women, who make up almost 60 per cent of her workforce, are more reliable. "Most of them have children and many have been abandoned by their husbands. Whereas the men can come in one day and then the next day be off selling doughnuts or riding bicycle taxis."
Costs and corruption

Despite concerns over the workforce, Schrier, who is also chairman of the Uganda Flower Exporters Association (UFEA), says the main problems facing the industry are high air freight costs and corruption, which he fears is now making potential investors look to Asia and other alternative locations to grow flowers.

Most flower farms are located near Entebbe international airport, where landing taxes and the lack of dedicated air freight for flowers mean that flying costs are around US$1 per kilo of flowers higher than in neighbouring Kenya and Tanzania; they use dedicated cargo aircraft, as well as purchasing space on passenger airlines.

"The climate is so special in Uganda; with a low differential between day and night temperatures, it is even better than Costa Rica," says Schrier. "It's a unique selling point for the country. More investors should be coming here." He argues that the Government does little to help the flower industry with, for example, long delays in obtaining approval for importing pesticides. But tax breaks are given to companies that pay bribes and to a farm that is part-owned by the president's wife.

"I don't mind about the bribes and tax breaks but I just wish they would help us compete on a level-playing field with neighbouring countries like Kenya and Tanzania," says Schrier.
Play to your strengths

In the long-run Schrier believes Uganda needs to move away from predominantly growing flowers and cuttings towards the pot plants sector, where it can better compete with competitors in Africa and Asia. His own company will begin its first shipments of pot plants, such as otsteos, dahlias, impatients and geraniums, to Europe this month, and he hopes they will make up 50 per cent of his sales within five years.

"Pot plants are a huge market that has not yet developed in Africa. There's huge potential for this sector to encourage more investors to come here and get the industry growing. Because of the climate, any crop can be grown here quicker, cheaper and with less chemicals than in Europe," he says.

New Agriculturalist

Maize gene-modified to resist insects being monitored for risk in South Africa

by Hopewell Radebe

The job of opponents of genetically modified products has just become more difficult.

Scientists have developed a new generation of insect-resistant maize and have promised that the achievement comes with a "framework for environmental monitoring" to ensure there is no unintended effect on the land and other plant species, according to the South African National Biodiversity Institute.

Previously, pesticides were used to control pests on maize, but widespread usage had an adverse effect on the environment and human health.

The joint research project — involving the Department of Environmental Affairs and Norway’s Directorate of Nature Management , and co-ordinated by the institute — has led to the development of genetically modified maize with a transgene from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), which produces a toxin to manage a specific maize pest.

The report on the outcomes of the five-year SA-Norway environmental biosafety co-operation project was released last week .

Lukeshni Chetty, deputy director of the genetically modified organism unit at the institute, says that while the framework for genetically modified maize is relevant to the monitoring of insect- resistant maize, it also represents a blueprint for research and monitoring of other genetically modified crops in SA.

"This will go a long way towards strengthening and supporting the regulatory framework governing genetically modified organisms in the country, and will contribute to the responsible and sustainable use of this technology in meeting national imperatives," she says.

The report argues that globally all genetically modified products undergo stringent risk assessments prior to commercialisation, "however, there exists the possibility of unintended risks occurring." These can only be identified and investigated after commercial release. The project sought to identify these post-release risks.

The investigated risks included the effect on target and non-target organisms — the effect on the pests and other organisms in the maize cultivation ecosystem — and the effect on soil organism biodiversity, as well as the gene flow and its subsequent contribution to the development of insect resistance.

Ms Chetty says some key scientific research outcomes from this project include toxin levels which varied between plant tissues and plant-to-plant toxin transfer and influences. This variability in toxin production could contribute to resistance development, as insects may be exposed to sublethal dosages and thus become immune to the product.

The researchers also monitored the gene flow from Bt maize (maize with the toxin) to non-Bt maize (maize without the toxin) through cross-pollination, which often resulted in the production of low levels of Bt toxins, another potential contributor to development of resistance .

Resistance to the toxin has previously been detected in the Northern Cape, and another Bt-resistant population was recently recorded in North West . This suggests that such resistance has the potential to spread to other provinces .

SA is the largest producer of genetically modified food in Africa and the eighth-largest in the world after the US, Brazil, Argentina, India, Canada, China and Paraguay. Burkina Faso and Egypt occupy second and third place in Africa . At least 25 countries already plant genetically modified organisms .

In 2009, almost half (46%) of the global area planted with genetically modified organisms was in developing countries. It is expected that by 2015, this will increase as more developing countries take their cue from industrialised nations and adopt genetically modified crops.

The project partners include the Centre for Biosafety in Norway, North-West University, the University of Fort Hare and the University of the Free State.

The project’s results will allow researchers to provide proper estimates of yield, production costs and pest management, all of which affect the maize market and the cost of maize and maize products.

Businessday

Nigerian cocoa risks EU ban over use of agrochemicals

Nigeria may be on the verge of losing out in the cocoa export business at the end of the year for failing to to comply with the European Union's standard requirement of chemicals used in the production of the commodity.

The International Cocoa Organisation - the United Nation's regulatory body for the commodity has said that Nigeria's cocoa export has been found to be of low standard due to the discovery of substandard pesticides used in its production.

Akin Gbadamosi, National Chairman, Cocoa Association of Nigeria, raised the apprehension at the one-day Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC's) cocoa export development interactive session in Lagos, recently, adding however, that the Federal Government order the nation's security agencies, to take urgent steps to stop the continued importatation of different substandard chemicals into the country, as a way of protecting the lives of the people, especially the farmers, who risk being out of jobs if the EU ban takes effect. 

On the effect of EU's ban, Gbadamosi said that the implication would affect adversely the growth of the nation's economy, stressing that agriculture contributes 41.48 per cent to the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP), of which cocoa contributes 27 per cent.

AllAfrica

Farmers cope with Roundup-resistant weeds

by William Neuman and Andrew Pollack

For 15 years, Eddie Anderson, a farmer in Tennessee? USA, has been a strict adherent of no-till agriculture, an environmentally friendly technique that all but eliminates plowing to curb erosion and the harmful run-off of fertilizers and pesticides.

But not this year.

On a recent afternoon, Mr. Anderson watched as tractors crisscrossed a rolling field — plowing and mixing herbicides into the soil to kill weeds where soybeans will soon be planted.

Just as the heavy use of antibiotics contributed to the rise of drug-resistant super-germs, American farmers’ near-ubiquitous use of the weedkiller Roundup has led to the rapid growth of tenacious new super-weeds.

To fight them, Mr. Anderson and farmers throughout the East, Midwest and South are being forced to spray fields with more toxic herbicides, pull weeds by hand and return to more labor-intensive methods like regular plowing.


“We’re back to where we were 20 years ago,” said Mr. Anderson, who will plow about one-third of his 3,000 acres of soybean fields this spring, more than he has in years. “We’re trying to find out what works.”

Farm experts say that such efforts could lead to higher food prices, lower crop yields, rising farm costs and more pollution of land and water.

“It is the single largest threat to production agriculture that we have ever seen,” said Andrew Wargo III, the president of the Arkansas Association of Conservation Districts.

The first resistant species to pose a serious threat to agriculture was spotted in a Delaware soybean field in 2000. Since then, the problem has spread, with 10 resistant species in at least 22 states infesting millions of acres, predominantly soybeans, cotton and corn.

The super-weeds could temper American agriculture’s enthusiasm for some genetically modified crops. Soybeans, corn and cotton that are engineered to survive spraying with Roundup have become standard in American fields. However, if Roundup doesn’t kill the weeds, farmers have little incentive to spend the extra money for the special seeds.

Roundup — originally made by Monsanto but now also sold by others under the generic name glyphosate — has been little short of a miracle chemical for farmers. It kills a broad spectrum of weeds, is easy and safe to work with, and breaks down quickly, reducing its environmental impact.

Sales took off in the late 1990s, after Monsanto created its brand of Roundup Ready crops that were genetically modified to tolerate the chemical, allowing farmers to spray their fields to kill the weeds while leaving the crop unharmed. Today, Roundup Ready crops account for about 90 percent of the soybeans and 70 percent of the corn and cotton grown in the United States.

But farmers sprayed so much Roundup that weeds quickly evolved to survive it. “What we’re talking about here is Darwinian evolution in fast-forward,” Mike Owen, a weed scientist at Iowa State University, said.

Now, Roundup-resistant weeds like horseweed and giant ragweed are forcing farmers to go back to more expensive techniques that they had long ago abandoned.

Mr. Anderson, the farmer, is wrestling with a particularly tenacious species of glyphosate-resistant pest called Palmer amaranth, or pigweed, whose resistant form began seriously infesting farms in western Tennessee only last year.

Pigweed can grow three inches a day and reach seven feet or more, choking out crops; it is so sturdy that it can damage harvesting equipment. In an attempt to kill the pest before it becomes that big, Mr. Anderson and his neighbors are plowing their fields and mixing herbicides into the soil.

That threatens to reverse one of the agricultural advances bolstered by the Roundup revolution: minimum-till farming. By combining Roundup and Roundup Ready crops, farmers did not have to plow under the weeds to control them. That reduced erosion, the runoff of chemicals into waterways and the use of fuel for tractors.

If frequent plowing becomes necessary again, “that is certainly a major concern for our environment,” Ken Smith, a weed scientist at the University of Arkansas, said. In addition, some critics of genetically engineered crops say that the use of extra herbicides, including some old ones that are less environmentally tolerable than Roundup, belies the claims made by the biotechnology industry that its crops would be better for the environment.

“The biotech industry is taking us into a more pesticide-dependent agriculture when they’ve always promised, and we need to be going in, the opposite direction,” said Bill Freese, a science policy analyst for the Center for Food Safety in Washington.

So far, weed scientists estimate that the total amount of United States farmland afflicted by Roundup-resistant weeds is relatively small — seven million to 10 million acres, according to Ian Heap, director of the International Survey of Herbicide Resistant Weeds, which is financed by the agricultural chemical industry. There are roughly 170 million acres planted with corn, soybeans and cotton, the crops most affected.

Roundup-resistant weeds are also found in several other countries, including Australia, China and Brazil, according to the survey.

Monsanto, which once argued that resistance would not become a major problem, now cautions against exaggerating its impact. “It’s a serious issue, but it’s manageable,” said Rick Cole, who manages weed resistance issues in the United States for the company.

Of course, Monsanto stands to lose a lot of business if farmers use less Roundup and Roundup Ready seeds.

“You’re having to add another product with the Roundup to kill your weeds,” said Steve Doster, a corn and soybean farmer in Barnum, Iowa. “So then why are we buying the Roundup Ready product?”

Monsanto argues that Roundup still controls hundreds of weeds. But the company is concerned enough about the problem that it is taking the extraordinary step of subsidizing cotton farmers’ purchases of competing herbicides to supplement Roundup.

Monsanto and other agricultural biotech companies are also developing genetically engineered crops resistant to other herbicides.

Bayer is already selling cotton and soybeans resistant to glufosinate, another weedkiller. Monsanto’s newest corn is tolerant of both glyphosate and glufosinate, and the company is developing crops resistant to dicamba, an older pesticide. Syngenta is developing soybeans tolerant of its Callisto product. And Dow Chemical is developing corn and soybeans resistant to 2,4-D, a component of Agent Orange, the defoliant used in the Vietnam War.

Still, scientists and farmers say that glyphosate is a once-in-a-century discovery, and steps need to be taken to preserve its effectiveness.

Glyphosate “is as important for reliable global food production as penicillin is for battling disease,” Stephen B. Powles, an Australian weed expert, wrote in a commentary in January in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The National Research Council, which advises the federal government on scientific matters, sounded its own warning recently, saying that the emergence of resistant weeds jeopardized the substantial benefits that genetically engineered crops were providing to farmers and the environment.

Weed scientists are urging farmers to alternate glyphosate with other herbicides. But the price of glyphosate has been falling as competition increases from generic versions, encouraging farmers to keep relying on it.

Something needs to be done, said Louie Perry Jr., a cotton grower whose great-great-grandfather started his farm in Moultrie, Ga., in 1830.

Georgia has been one of the states hit hardest by Roundup-resistant pigweed, and Mr. Perry said the pest could pose as big a threat to cotton farming in the South as the beetle that devastated the industry in the early 20th century.

“If we don’t whip this thing, it’s going to be like the boll weevil did to cotton,” said Mr. Perry, who is also chairman of the Georgia Cotton Commission. “It will take it away.”

New York Times

Biopesticide averts locust plague in East Africa

Effective even in the searing temperatures of the Sahel, a biopesticide containing fungal spores has recently been used to successfully avert a locust plague in East Africa, which could have destroyed the food crops of millions.
Although the biopesticide, Green Muscle^TM, has already been trialled in a number of African countries, it is the first time that it has been used on such a large-scale. Funded by the FAO and the UN's Central Emergency Response Fund, the successful operation offers "a model for combating other transboundary pests that are threatening the region," says Modibo Traoré, assistant director-general of FAO.
During the aerial spraying campaign, organised by FAO and the International Locust Control Organization for Central and Southern Africa, the biopesticide was used to target adult red locusts (Nomadracis septemfasciata) across the wetlands of the Iku-Katavi National Park of Tanzania. Ten thousand hectares had been treated by the end of July 2009, two months after the start of the campaign. FAO will spend US$2 million to continue the campaign into Malawi and Mozambique over the coming months.

Dedicated research

Developed over a decade of collaboration by the LUBILOSA* programme, Green Muscle^TM is highly selective in attacking locusts and grasshoppers, with no adverse effects observed on non-target organisms. However, more than 160 strains of fungi and other locust pathogens had to be studied before CABI scientists identified the fungus Metarhizium anisopliae var acridum, which is used in Green Muscle^TM. The product consists of spores of the fungus suspended in a mixture of mineral oils.
According to Dr Dave Moore of CABI, who helped develop the mycopesticide, the development of a fungus-based pest control agent for locusts dispelled early reservations in the scientific community. "Most biological pesticides have a limited shelf-life," he says. "However through persistent experimentation during the germination, drying and packaging stages, the LUBILOSA programme was able to produce large numbers of viable M. anisopliae spores, and a packaged product with a shelf life of 18 months at 30°C. Under refrigeration, Green Muscle^TM lasts up to five years."
The fungus is now produced in commercial quantities in Senegal and South Africa. It is grown on rice, with its microscopic spores collected by harvesting machines that evolved through many variations, culminating in an industrial-scale version now in use in Africa.

An effective alternative

Green Muscle^TM is not only more environmentally benign than chemical alternatives but is also more effective and persistent. Spores exposed to sunlight are killed within eight hours, but spores shaded or hidden in plant crevices can survive for several weeks. In trials, chemical insecticides were found to kill insects very rapidly, but within a few days pest numbers were rising again. Insect numbers in areas treated with Green Muscle^TM only began to drop after 7-10 days, but they continued to fall and remained low long after the insect numbers in the chemically-treated areas had returned to control levels.
In Tanzania, Green Muscle^TM was used to kill adult locusts, but Moore suggests that preventative spraying of the insects in their younger 'hopper' stage is more effective. The speed at which the fungal infection spreads through the insect is primarily determined by temperature. Infected locusts tend to sun themselves, raising their body temperature and slowing fungal spread. As a result, a level of infection which might kill the insect in five days in the laboratory can take ten days or more in the field. For farmers whose crops or fodder plants are being eaten by adult insects, such a long period from spray to death might be unacceptable. It is recommended, therefore, that the pesticide be used proactively to treat breeding sites, rather than reactively to control outbreaks. This could be done most effectively by establishing community-based early warning systems. Organising these, with the involvement of wildlife rangers and farmers, is one of the next challenges for locust control.
Dr Moore is philosophical, however, about how long widespread adoption may take. "At the beginning, developing a fungal-based control for locusts seemed a huge problem," he says, "but that was easy compared with the difficulties of getting uptake and use." Several countries, including Madagascar, Niger and Sudan, have already trialled the product in smaller areas, and Yemen has expressed an interest in mycopesticides more generally, because of fears that chemical products are responsible for the collapse in bee colonies. Moore is hopeful that with commercial production of Green Muscle^TM now underway in Senegal and South Africa, the success of the first large-scale application will be a turning point.
* LUBILOSA - Lutte Biologique contre les Locustes et les Sauteriaux - a collaborative programme led by CABI, with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Cotonou, Benin, and the Département de Formation en Protection des Végétaux, Niamey, Niger.
New Agriculturalist

IITA develops bio-pesticide to save African cabbage

The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) has announced the development of a bio-pesticide for the control of a moth which ravages African cabbage.

IITA, based in Nigeria's southwest city of Ibadan, said in a statement that the Beauveria bassiana, developed by the scientists at the institute has recorded a huge success in the control of the pest.

``Resource-poor farmers said the bio-control method has proved effective in controlling insect pest that has devastated both smallholder and large scale cabbage farms in Africa," it said.

According to it, cabbages are among the most important vegetables in Africa in general and Benin Republic in particular, especially for lower income farmers.

``The importance of this vegetable is probably greater as it acts as a stream of income among farmers most affected by poverty, including small farmers, youth, and most especially, women who paradoxically play an important role in agricultural production," it said.

Eaten daily, either raw in salads, steamed, boiled or fried, cabbages serve as important cash-generating crops.

The institute said in spite of the importance of the crop, destructions by the moth on cabbage farms had forced thousands of farmers in West Africa to abandon cabbage production for other crops.

``The situation is worsened by the high costs associated with synthetic pesticide that serves as a chemical control option," IITA said, noting that chemical control of the pest on a global scale cost about US$1billion annually, with a package of health and environmental risks, which include pollution, destruction/death of non-target organisms including useful insects and therefore the reduction of biodiversity.

``But the good news is that the biopesticide B. bassiana in an integrated pest management approach offers a solution to sustainable control of the moth. Majority of farmers who abandoned cabbage cultivation for other crops are now requesting the bio-pesticide to make a come back but the problem is the availability of the product," the institute said.

Afriquejet

Fungal pesticide saves crops from locusts

by Deodatus Balile

Crops in East and Southern Africa have been saved from devastation by the first large-scale use of a biopesticide made of fungal spores.
Locust swarms lay waste to crops, with just a small part of a swarm - around a tonne of locusts - eating the same amount of food in one day as around 2,500 people, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
The FAO feared that infestations of red locusts would turn into a full-scale invasion, endangering the food security of millions. But spraying the biopesticide, Green Muscle, in Tanzania appears to have contained the outbreak.
Green Muscle consists of spores of the fungus Metarhizium anisopliae suspended in mineral oils. The fungi grow in the locust, producing a toxin and weakening them, making them easy prey for birds and lizards.
Most infected locusts die within 1-3 weeks, depending on the temperature and humidity. The pesticide has an 80 per cent mortality rate.
The spraying campaign, organised by the FAO and the International Locust Control Organization for Central and Southern Africa, started on 21 May in Tanzania. Around 10,000 hectares have been sprayed so far.
The FAO will spend US$2 million deploying the pesticide in Tanzania, Malawi and Mozambique over the next few months.
A senior FAO locust expert, Christian Pantenius, said that African countries should embrace the technology, which costs just US$17 per hectare.
Green Muscle kills only locusts and grasshoppers, unlike chemical pesticides, which can harm a wide range of organisms. Even the birds and lizards that eat the treated locusts suffer no side effects, says Pantenius.
Since its commercial release in 2000, Green Muscle has been tried in Madagascar, Niger, Senegal and Sudan, but this is its first large-scale application.
However, the time lag from spraying to the locusts dying - and the fact that the fungus survives for weeks - means that Green Muscle is more appropriate for prevention than controlling outbreaks, says Pantenius.
Baldwyn Torto of the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology in Kenya said that Senegal and South Africa are ready to produce Green Muscle.
SciDev.net