Swiss-based biocontrols supplier Andermatt has opened a new demonstration farm in Naivasha, Kenya, to provide vegetable, fruit and flower farmers in the Horn of Africa with innovative and natural solutions to rejuvenate soils in a regenerative manner and manage pests and diseases with a range of biological tested solutions.
The Andermatt Naivasha’s site will produce beneficial insects and grow a wide range of crops to demonstrate how nature can be harnessed to improve farm productivity for both small- and large-scale growers.
The Naivasha facility is a breeding centre for beneficial insects -the main insect currently produced on mass is the Phytoseiulus mite, which is harvested daily for introduction in farms across Kenya to combat the destructive red spider mite, especially in flowers.
“The Phytoseiulus persimilis feeds on red spider mites and consumes up to five adults or twenty eggs a day, providing an effective biological control instead of spraying chemicals”, said Hamish Ker, Andermatt Regional Commercial Manager, in Naivasha, during a visit to the facility. The facility targets to produce up to 20 million Phytoseiulus weekly.
Mr Ker added that as the world grapples with climate change and food security challenges, it is increasingly becoming apparent the need to revert to regenerative and sustainable agriculture systems to enhance soil and plant health for safe, improved farm productivity.
He added that natural solutions would also improve the efficacy/cost of pest control/plant nutrition and reduce the need to rely only on traditional chemical interventions and salt fertilisers. “By using nature’s solutions, we can reduce the need for pesticides which in turn reduces pressure on the environment as well as production costs and makes for a more conducive farming environment.”
Ker emphasises the need to focus on healthy crops by introducing natural/biological stimulants. “Healthier crops are less susceptible to attacks from pests and diseases because they have inbuilt ability to fend off external attacks”, he said.
To achieve this, he says, “we must first start with roots, the foundation of the plant, by making it possible for a crop to grow a mass of healthy roots and by doing so make it possible for the plant to take up more nutrients from the soil easily.”
When the plant feeds on healthy, balanced, organically charged soil with a rich living microbial population, it can develop a significant plant mass of multiple strong stems/branches supporting many large green leaves for max photosynthesis, leading to a healthy and productive harvest.
And if the focus is on the 60 per cent of Kenya’s smallholder farmers, we can tackle food insecurity and combat climate change. “If we can improve the performance of the small-scale farmer, it will not only be good for the farmer but also the country in terms of food security,” he says.
The Andermatt demo farm is growing maise, Sukuma, potatoes, beans, tomatoes, wheat, sorghum, sunflower and millet – Kenya’s most popular crops in a control experiment to show how mass root stimulation and soil conditioning can result in increased productivity with limited investment.
Using the traditional DAP application with various treatments of beneficial fungi/bacteria and selective biostimulants, the crops are already showing a clear difference, and progressively, farmers, policymakers and the media will see how tapping into nature for natural solutions can make a significant impact to farmers yields and cost of production, said Hamish.
Beneficial fungi and bacteria occur naturally in the environment; they only need to be applied intensively to the seed/roots with our specially selected root health product range so they grow and overcome/control the disease-carrying bacteria/fungi strains which can devastate a farmers crop he explained.
The current champion Andermatt seed/root treatment is made up of the following Bacillus (Rhizo Vital) and Trichoderma (Eco T) along with V12 Initiate to provide the farmer with an all-in-one microbe/macro/micro starter nutrient starter pack.
