Economic Assessment of Training and Use of Integrated Fruit Fly Management Strategy among Mango Farmers in Elgeyo Marakwet, Kenya

Abstract

Mango farmers in Elgeyo Marakwet were faced with the challenge of high fruit fly infestation that causes a 40-80% quality and quantity loss of mangoes. To address this challenge, ICIPE and partners implemented a Randomized Control Trial (RCT) experiment that involved three groups of farmers: farmers who received training only, farmers who received training and fruit fly Integrated Pest Management (IPM) materials and the control group (non-trained). The objective of this study was to determine if this particular IPM intervention (training and use of fruit fly IPM) had a significant influence on: the knowledge and perception of farmers towards fruit fly infestation and management, on the demand for IPM (fruit fly traps), and on mango loss due to fruit flies. The study involved a sample of 663 farmers that were interviewed during the baseline survey, and two follow-ups with 7% and 8% attrition respectively. Cross-sectional data obtained at baseline addressed the second objective of this study, while the first and third objectives utilized panel data. The Difference-in Difference (DiD) model revealed that farmers who received training and startup IPM materials had a significant improvement in their knowledge and perception towards fruit fly IPM by 8 % and 5 %, while mango production loss substantially declined by 7 % and 8 % compared to the control group and farmers who received training only respectively. This suggests that training accompanied by the provision of start-up IPM materials used by farmers is a great stimulus to promote social and experiential learning. Further analysis from the zero-inflated negative binomial regression revealed that farmers who received training only significantly demanded more fruit fly traps compared to the control group. This indicated that training only was effective in upscaling adoption of fruit fly IPM even when accompanied with the provision of start-up IPM materials which was insignificant in this case.