Abstract:
Pest invasion is one of the limiting factors affecting food production. Tomato leaf miner (Tuta absoluta)
(Meyrick 1917) (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae), is an invasive insect pest of tomato. However, In Kenya,
there is limited information on the level of invasion of the pest in tomato producing areas in the
country. We assessed the level of invasion of T. absoluta and farmer management practices in
Kirinyaga County. Tomato farmers were interviewed using questionnaires aimed at identifying the
management practices used by farmers to control T. absoluta and their awareness on the insect pest.
Two hundred and eight tomato farmers were interviewed, 90% of the respondents rated T. absoluta as a
major pest of tomato. Results show that 94% of the respondents use synthetic chemicals in the control
of T. absoluta with an average frequency of 12 times per growing season of three months with the
highest frequency being 16 times. Increased use of synthetic insecticides was associated with a
negative impact on the natural enemies. Among the interviewed farmers, 52 and 46% of respondents
stated that after chemical spraying natural enemies disappear and are killed respectively, while 2% did
not know what happened to them. It is therefore imperative to design an integrated pest management
program that integrates biological control and environmentally friendly chemicals for sustainable
control of T. absoluta populations.
