Farmers count losses as pest affects eggplant plantations |10 February 2012

The pest, which has been identified as the Eggplant Shoot and Fruit Borer (ESFB) or Leucinodes orbonalis, quickly spreaded to La Digue in 2009 and in spite of all effort to curtail its propagation, it was detected on Mahe during the middle of last year.

So far farmers have had no choice but to destroy affected plantations of the vegetable.

This has resulted in a scarcity of eggplant on the market, causing the price to shoot up in the past few months.

A kilo of eggplant is selling around R40 directly from farmers but this could be as high as R80 from other sources.

Randy Stravens, principal officer at the National Plant Protection Unit of the Seychelles National Agricultural Agency (SAA) at Union Vale, says the pest is being considered a serious threat to our national food security.

It is for this reason that farmers, people growing in the back yards of their homes and the public in general are being called upon to inform the Unit at Union Vale if their eggplant is being affected by the pest or if they are noticing any damage symptoms on their crops.

They should call the Unit on the following numbers: 4611476/4611488/4611487 to seek more clarifications and information, says Mr Stravens.

“Since the pest has been detected and identified, a lot of effort is being made to put it under control,” says Mr Stravens.
Until the recent introduction of the NIM Organic pest control spray, cultural practices have been used to contain the spread of the pest.

Crop rotation is one method that is beneficial as the insect survives only on the eggplant.
Intercropping eggplant with other crops is another beneficial practice as each crop has a characteristic odour, the adult moths are confused by various smells and that results in decreased infestation, Mr Stravens explains.

He notes that intercropping cowpea, maize, coriander improve the natural habitat for natural enemies (like spiders, lace wings, ladybirds etc) against the pest.

Mr Stravens says it is important to collect and destroy dried shoot tips and bored fruits as this is an efficient method because the larvae tend to transform into pupa and nestle in the plant residues itself.
Burning the infested parts and composting the crop remains is useful in preventing the buildup of the moth populations in a given area, he adds.

It is also important to destroy the previous harvested eggplant stalks to prevent insect survival from one cropping season to the next.

Other control measures include sex pheromone traps to attract and kill the adult males and biological agents such as predators, parasitoids, and chemical control.

Mr Stravens said there is available at present for sale traps and pest control spray which has recently been introduced.

Meanwhile the assistant director of the Extension Services at Grand Anse Mahe, Jose Guerreirohas, has said farmers from the west and south Mahe are being mostly affected and he estimates production losses to farmers to be around 70%.

Jacques Matombe, a farmer from Anse Royale, says the pest is really affecting their productions and all methods used so far have failed to curtail its spread.

But he welcomes the introduction of the new pesticide spray, adding that it will take a few weeks to see if the results are positive.

M-A.L.