MITES CONTROL IN ROSE FLOWERS AND CHALLENGES OF INTRODUCING INTEGRATED PESTS AND RESISTANCE MANAGEMENT

Abstract

The floriculture production in Kenya has registered impressive agricultural growth rate. Among flower type of importance is rose that earns over-half the total income from the industry. This happens despite growing challenges, chief among them being the increased incidences of pests and diseases with the most important being spider mite, Tetranychus urticae. A number of miticides have been applied since the early 1970s when flower production was identified as an important agricultural activity for the country’s economy. The reported study here lists the major pesticides that have been used towards the management of mites. The information compiled was gathered through a field survey on 131 rose farms in Kenya. During the survey reasons for adoption or discontinuing pesticide uses were enumerated. Chief among the reasons for rejections of the pesticides are banned pesticides in 1990s. These pesticides were mostly the inorganic chlorines that have been rejected in agricultural productions due to their persistent in environment resulting in reduction of biodiversity of organisms. The study has also listed 43 chemical miticide compounds currently used in rose flower production. The study has further highlighted the most venerable development stages of mites that are targeted by the miticides. Possibilities of the miticides being used in integrated pest management (IPM) systems together with certain bio-pesticides have been mentioned. Similarly, farmers’ awareness about insect resistance managements (IRM) was scored for and the possible training needs particularly for the small-scale rose farmers on IRM and IPM have been highlighted.