Gaudensia Mngumi | September 26, 2024
News Brief
In Ilongero village, Tanzania, Rehema Mbura is using a homemade biological pesticide to target caterpillars, borers, and fungus. Her mixture is made with papaya leaves, wood ash, and water. She has shared her technique with her neighbours, and now many farmers are improving their harvests and incomes. She says, “Biological pesticides are easy to make, increase food production, and provide farmers with more income.”
On a cold morning in Ilongero village, Singida region, Tanzania, Rehema Mbura picks papaya leaves in the dewy air, preparing to make a biological pesticide. Her two-and-a-half-acre farm is a five-minute walk from her home. During the rainy season, she plants maize as the main food crop and sunflowers for cash. She also grows tomatoes, onions, collard greens, and okra, often using water from shallow-dug wells to irrigate the vegetables.
The papaya leaves will be used to make a pesticide for her plants. The 47-year-old woman explains, “I pick male papaya leaves early in the morning before the sun rises. Male papaya trees don’t produce fruit, so their leaves are more available for making pesticides.”
Mrs. Mbura chops a basin full of the leaves, pounds them using a wooden mortar, adds two tablespoons of wood ash, and mixes everything with 20 litres of water. She then soaks the mixture for a week.
She strains the liquid through a sack and cloth to remove impurities, using the residue as composted manure. She sprays the pesticide on the top and underside of leaves where pests hide and lay eggs.
Mrs. Mbura explains, “We usually spray from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., as it helps the pesticide adhere better to the leaves. The homemade pesticide effectively targets caterpillars, borers, and fungus.”
Josephat Ndakidemi is a researcher at the Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology in Arusha, Tanzania. He explains that picking leaves in the morning ensures they are fresher and have more moisture, making the pesticide stronger. He advises farmers to pound and soak papaya leaves for two weeks to release more extracts, enhancing the pesticide’s strength.
Mr. Ndakidemi says, “Biological pesticides prevent pests, do not harm people or the environment, and encourage pollinators like bees on farms.”
Spraying is done twice a month or more frequently during heavy rains. Mrs. Mbura learned this technique through an ActionAid Tanzania project in 2015, which aimed to improve the lives of women and children affected by food shortages and the high costs of fertilizers and pesticides in her village.
Mrs. Mbura was nominated by her neighbours to participate in the training, and in turned taught them to make pesticides from animal waste and plants. She says, “I was thrilled by the nomination. It allowed me to learn and teach villagers innovative ways to control pests and diseases on our farms, even when money is tight.”
She adds that initially, men viewed the project as women’s work, but after seeing its benefits, they began participating actively.
She recalls, “At first, some farmers doubted the effectiveness of homemade pesticides, especially against lablab bean borers. We held meetings with male farmers to address their concerns and eventually appointed some as leaders of the farmer groups, which helped overcome resistance.”
Mrs. Mbura explains that in previous years, pests and the lack of pesticides prevented her from getting good harvests. Now, with the knowledge of making and using biological pesticides, her yields have increased significantly. She says, “I now sell vegetables in markets, schools, and to individual buyers—something I couldn’t do before.”
Mrs. Mbura’s efforts have also led to increased income and food security in her village. She has trained over 100 villagers, including Maria Salum, a 40-year-old farmer living with a physical disability – a hand deformity.
She grows maize, millet, sweet potatoes, lablab, and vegetables on the farm she inherited from her grandmother. Despite the stigma and challenges associated with her disability, she has become a successful farmer, thanks to Mrs. Mbura’s training.
She makes organic pesticide using wild chili peppers and bitter tomatoes, known as solanum. She mixes 20 grams each of young and mature solanum, dries them in a cool place, and then sieves them into a fine powder. This powder is mixed with half a kilo of dried chili peppers to create a pesticide for harvested cereals. She mixes the pesticide with 20 kilograms of harvested millet or maize to prevent common pests like weevils and borers.
Miss Salum says, “I’m a happy farmer living with a disability. Making and using these pesticides has transformed my life. I’ve even built a two-bedroom house with burnt bricks.”
She adds, “People respect me now. I do not have to beg. I own a house, while some able-bodied men still live in mud houses.”
For Mrs. Mbura, the benefits are clear: “Biological pesticides are easy to make, increase food production, and provide farmers with more income.”
This resource is undertaken with the financial support of the Biovision Foundation.