MASAKA-National Coffee Research Institute has started carrying out research on local concoctions of organic mixtures being used by some of the coffee farmers in the Greater Masaka region to control the black coffee twig borer that has devasted Robusta coffee plantations.
The black coffee twig borer infestation is one of the major factors that has affected coffee production and quality in the Greater Masaka region, leading to higher losses on the side of the farmers.
Some of the coffee farmers said they have resorted to using local organic concoctions like ‘Lwanga Organic Pesticide’ developed by Hassan Lubega a local coffee farmer in Kyotera district.
To determine the efficacy of the local mixtures like ‘Lwanga Organic Pesticide’, a team of researchers led by Dr. Godfrey Kagezi, the senior research officer at the National Coffee Research institute under the National Agricultural Research organisation, have started research on the substances.
Dr. Kagezi said they have visited the affected coffee farmers who are using local concoctions to kill the borers. He said they are working with farmers to come up with a solution to fighting the dangerous black coffee twig borers.
”Some farmers claim that this concoction of ‘Lwanga Organic Pesticide’ works but as researchers, we have visited coffee farmers to verify whether it is working or not and how the farmers are applying the mixtures,” he said.
Farmers in the districts of Kyotera, Masaka, and Bukomansimbi have lost over 1,000 acres of coffee gardens due to the pests which spread very fast in coffee plantations during the drought spell in the area.
The borers have affected sub-counties of Kyesiiga, Kyanamukaka, Buwunga in Masaka district, the Subcounty of Kasaali in Kyotera district, and Kibinge Subcounty in Bukomansimbi district, where coffee plantations have dried up, despite the technical guidance given by agricultural experts to coffee farmers.
Joseph Katongole, a coffee farmer in Kasaali Subcounty said he lost income due to low volumes of coffee harvests from his farm, which was infested with borers.
However, Bernard Wadda, a coffee farmer at Kabonera village, said the pesticides which are currently on market have failed to kill the twig borers.
He said he sprayed his coffee garden with the recommended pesticides but in vain as the tree branches with cherries have withered.
They said they sprayed the affected coffee plantations with ‘Lwanga organic pesticide’, which they said worked on some coffee plantations but failed to kill the pests on coffee farms that are near the forests.
Dr. Kagezi said researchers need to validate what the farmers are saying. He said they have taken samples from the severely infested young coffee trees, which were sprayed with the local organic pesticides, and those that were not sprayed with this local pesticide.
In addition, the samples were taken from coffee trees near the forests and those far away from the forests.
He said the black coffee twig borers hide in the thick forests and during the dry seasons, they attack the coffee plantations near the forests.
Dr. Kagezi said they will validate the samples in the laboratories, greenhouse, and gardens to see whether the concoctions work. He said they will get the conclusive results after a period of six months.
He said government is working around the clock to find effective pesticides, adding that farmers should make a routine inspection of their coffee plantations, cut off the affected twigs and burn the infested coffee trees.
https://thecooperator.news/buganda-farmers-advised-on-fighting-deadly-black-coffee-twig-borer/
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