The use of Crotalaria Species in Sustainable Management of Plant-Parasitic Nematodes of Vegetable Crops in Western Kenya

The Crotalaria Project was funded by RUFORUM for two years starting October 2011. The overall objective of the Project is to increase production of vegetable crops through the use of cheap and sustainable nematode management strategies in smallholder farming systems. Plant-parasitic nematodes are the major production constraints in almost all vegetable growing fields in western Kenya. There is a growing demand for vegetables with World Health Organisation (WHO) recommending a daily consumption of 400-600g of vegetables, and even a higher daily consumption rate recommended to manage the deadly diseases such as HIV/Aids and malaria. However, the production of vegetables has not kept pace with the growing demand where the crop losses associated with biotic and abiotic factors of up to 100% has been reported. Nematodes alone have the capacity of causing huge losses by destroying vegetables’ root systems thereby preventing water and mineral uptake from soil and by predisposing the plants to secondary infection by other pathogens like fungi, viruses and bacteria. The project seeks to come up with sustainable management strategies whose adoption by smallholder farmers would increase vegetable production. Sustainable nematode management strategies will be developed through this project whose implementation will increase the yield of vegetables.