By Milliam Murigi
Climate change is creating a new challenge for Kenyan farmers as rising temperatures and changing weather patterns increase pest pressure, allowing some to multiply faster and attack crops outside their traditional ranges.
The changing pest landscape is putting farmers in a difficult position as they seek to protect their crops while meeting increasingly stringent requirements on pesticide residues, food safety and export markets.
According to Joel Mutai, chief executive officer of aak-GROW, climate change is creating favourable conditions for pests to multiply and spread, presenting a growing challenge to food production.
“Climate change is bringing a very big dilemma.Pests are reproducing faster as well as pests that previously did not attack certain crops are increasingly becoming a threat, forcing farmers to find effective ways of protecting their produce,” Mutai said during a media engagement on the state of crop protection products in Kenya.
He cited that the emergence of new pests over the years, is an indication of the changing pest landscape. The recent pest in Kenya being the mango weevil.
Mutai noted that farmers are being caught between the need to control pests and pressure to reduce pesticide use.At the same time climate change is increasing pest pressure and conditions under which pests could reproduce and spread more.
“Back in 1984, one coffee berry borer was laying about 40 eggs per year, but today, because of warmer climates, the same pest can lay more than 1,000 eggs. This means warmer temperatures are accelerating pest reproduction, allowing populations to build up faster and increasing the pressure on farmers to protect their crops,” he said.
The changing pest threat is not unique to Kenya. Changes in temperature and weather patterns can alter the geographical range and development of insects and other agricultural pests, potentially exposing crops and farming systems to new threats.
For Kenya, the issue has implications beyond the farm because the country’s horticultural exports must meet phytosanitary and food-safety requirements in destination markets.
Export consignments can be rejected when they contain quarantine pests or exceed permitted pesticide residue limits. This creates a difficult balancing act for farmers: controlling pests effectively while ensuring that the methods used do not compromise food safety or market access.
“The complexity of the pesticide debate also presents a challenge for journalists, who must explain issues around crop protection, food safety, regulation and environmental risks without losing important context,” said Linda Batch, chief executive officer of the Kenya Editors Guild.
According to her, media had a responsibility to interrogate the evidence and identify gaps in information reaching the public because crop protection intersects with food security, farmer livelihoods, consumer safety, environmental sustainability, science, regulation and the wider economy.
“These are often highly technical subjects, yet journalists must translate that complexity to the public without sacrificing accuracy or context,” Batch said, calling for stronger access to credible scientific and regulatory information and experts who can help journalists understand the issues.
At the same time, she stressed that engagement between the media and industry must preserve editorial independence.
“The purpose is not to secure uncritical coverage, but to enable journalists to ask better-informed questions, interrogate evidence and report responsibly,” she said.
Batch challenged editors and journalists to examine where information gaps exist, where misinformation is taking hold and what the media should be interrogating more robustly.
According to Mutai, the industry is pursuing measures aimed at reducing farmers’ reliance on conventional pesticide applications. These include integrated pest management, improved farmer information, biopesticides, responsible pesticide use and technologies such as drones.
The industry is also looking at ways of reducing direct exposure of farmers to pesticides while improving the precision of application by introducing spray service providers.
Spray service providers are trained personnel who apply crop-protection products on behalf of farmers, with the aim of ensuring that the right product is used at the correct rate and applied safely. The approach is helping reduce misuse and unnecessary exposure by shifting pesticide application from farmers to trained operators, while also improving compliance with recommended application practices.
Such approaches are increasingly important as farmers face new pest threats while regulators and consumers demand safer and more sustainable food production.
“The challenge, however, is not simply about whether pesticides should be used. It is about finding ways to protect crops from an evolving pest threat while reducing risks to farmers, consumers and the environment,” said Mutai.
