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Rabbit urine can eliminate white flies
Haba Mugisha checks on her tomatoes after spraying with foliar. Mugisha uses rabbit urine to process foliar. PHOTO/RACHEL MABALA
By George Munene
Farmers can reduce the money they spend on pesticide by using rabbit urine to wipe out whiteflies. White flies are sap-sucking insects that attack crops such as vegetables, coffee, macadamia, bananas and avocadoes, among others.
Alex Maina, who has been a rabbit farmer for more than four years and has been tapping and using the animals’ urine to control the destructive insects on his banana and pawpaw crops says he has been able to reduce his expenditure on insecticides.
“I started using the urine two years ago on my crops to control different pests and diseases and it has proved more effective on whiteflies,” said Maina.
According to Dudutech, an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) company in Africa, insecticides only have a limited effect on whiteflies as most only work when they come in direct contact with the whiteflies and that harsh synthetic chemicals will generally kill all the natural enemies of the whiteflies before they kill the whiteflies themselves
How to use it
It should be noted that rabbit urine can be used in two ways, as a foliar fertiliser and as a pesticide or insecticide.
When used as an insecticide, a farmer would be required to mix two litres of concentrated rabbit urine with three litres of water and spray the mixture on affected crops after every two weeks three times to wipe the insects.
When used as a foliar, one would be required to use a litre of concentrated rabbit urine mixed with four litres of water and apply it to crops three times every two weeks.
Piloting
Following the effectiveness of the urine in his crops, Maina has since decided to engage more farmers by giving them free rabbit urine to try on their crops especially with farmers owning big coffee, avocado and banana farms.
Cost of rabbit urine
Currently, the urine goes for between Shs5,000 and Shs6,000, but companies that have packaged it sell it at Shs20,000 per litre.
Jackson Mugisha, who adds value to rabbit meat and also makes foliar fertiliser from rabbit urine, says some farmers prefer unprocessed urine.
“It will cost a farmer Shs5,000 for a litre of unprocessed rabbit urine whereas the foliar goes for Shs20,000,” says Mugisha. Besides rabbit urine, Mugisha says whiteflies can also be wiped out using organically made neem oil.
