Coffee farmers in Bbanda village, Kabira Sub-county in Kyotera district call upon the Government for rescue over the outbreak of an unknown pest in their area. The pest infestation which was first noticed on an individual farm in Bbanda village in December 2023 has since spread to other farms in the same village causing a lot of anxiety over anticipated yield loss.
The farmers are worried that the pest will spread and become a national crisis if there is no rapid intervention to get rid of them. This is because the pest feeds mainly on the leaves thereby drying the other parts of coffee because of the compromised food supply to the tree. It should be noted that Kyotera District Agricultural officers, UCDA and NARO-NaCORI are already on the ground assessing the situation and creating awareness on how the pest can be managed as they wait for other management practices that will be recommended by NARO researchers. When NaCORI carried out a rapid appraisal of the situation, they discovered that the unknown pest was the variegated grasshoppers. It was also discovered that damage caused by the pest is very insignificant as compared to earlier allegations in the news that the pest dries the entire tree upon attack. It was noted that the bear trees without any leaves are a result of the coffee wilt disease and not the variegated grasshoppers.
This is because the majority of farmers in Kyotera still have the old clones. The scientists advised the farmers to plant the Coffee wilt disease-resistant varieties to avoid being attacked by coffee wilt. Additionally, they were reminded to practice management of their fields to be able to destroy the existence of the pest. Among the management practices include weeding to destroy their eggs as well as their habitat during the day, pruning and desuckering to allow light and heat penetration since the pest is allergic to sunshine and heat. They were advised to take a community approach like handpicking and burning the pest to destroy its existence.
When interviewed Mr Ssempijja Edward an agricultural extension officer says this is not the first time he has seen the pest. He says there was a precedential incident in the 1990s where the same pest attacked coffee and the Government ordered massive spraying with recommended chemicals which eventually killed all of them in a short while. He also notes that these pests only attack coffee fields near swampy areas and don’t move so far away from the swamp. He therefore suspects that they may be originating from swamps. Indeed, NARO researchers also noted that most affected farms in the village were bordering a swamp.