IPM Vegetable Systems in Uganda

Abstract

Smallholder famers in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) have been encouraged to produce horticultural crops as an agricultural and rural development strategy to enhance incomes and improve household nutrition. In Uganda, intensified production of marketed vegetable crops has led to changing agricultural practices, including crop and input-intensification, a changing set of pests, and increased use and reliance on synthetic pesticides to manage these pests. Beginning in 2002, the IPM CRSP team in Uganda implemented a participatory IPM program with smallholder farmers to develop and disseminate alternative pest management strategies for managing priority pests and reducing pesticide usage on tomato. The major pest constraints addressed were late blight, bacterial wilt, viruses, bollworm, aphids, thrips and white flies. Baseline farmer surveys indicated that farmers were spraying a variety of pesticides 12–24 times per growing season. The component technologies developed into a package and disseminated to farmers included a bacteria wilt resistant tomato variety MT56, mulching, staking, and a minimum spray schedule of 3–4 pesticide sprays per season. Impact assessments indicated that yields were 40 % higher when the package was used and reduced production costs (by reducing the number of sprays) that led to higher net revenues for IPM-practicing tomato farmers. Use of MT56 and mulching led to a 21 % reduction in production costs and led to an internal rate of return of 250 % if adopted. Use of tomato variety MT56 reduced production cost by 21 % with a Benefit: Cost ratio of 770. Other IPM technologies developed included grafting using bacterial wilt resistant rootstocks; seedling production using low tunnel systems for pest/vector exclusion; and good nursery management practices.