Tsetse repellant relieves stressed cattle farmers

cow with tsetse repellent collar/PHOTO: MARY MWENDWA/STANDARD

An innovative tsetse fly repellent technology in Kenya has enabled farmers to dream of better yields.

The repellent comes in the form of collars and once the animals wear these, tsetse flies keep their distance.

The collar is protected with a metal casing and is refilled with chemical after every six months for effective results.

This technology involves the controlled release of potent repellents from prototype dispensers specifically designed to release the repellent at a constant rate. 

For Suleiman Shee, a farmer in Mangawani location in Kwale County, the collars have helped him graze his cows closer to the park fence in the early morning and late evening without any disturbance.

"My income is steadily increasing. With my healthy cows, I now get better offers when I sell them. Previously, I sold my cows at between Sh7,000-9,000, but now I can fetch between Sh20,000-30,000.”

Similarly, Mary Ben Nzazi, praises the collar technology. Before she would get 1.5 litres of milk per day and now she gets up to three litres.

Rajinder Saini, the principal scientist and project coordinator of the European Union funded project at the African Insect Science for Food and Health (Icipe) says the project was designed as a response to Icipe's tsetse traps which are not entirely ideal for pastoralists.

For pastoralists, a mobile technology would better suit their way of life.That is how Icipe came up with the innovative repellent collars.

These collars are now popular with sedentary livestock keepers.

Rajinder says that several impacts have been seen after livestock keepers started using the repellent collars.

"There has been a reduction in disease incidence of up to 90 per cent in the coastal areas of Kenya where the technology is effective in protecting cattle.

Almost all farmers participating can graze their animals anywhere including tsetse-infested areas close to the park fence,” he says.

The EU gave 1.5 million euro to support the technology at Icipe.

"Currently a collar retails at $4.5 (Sh400) and we are looking into ways on how it can be commercialised further," says the EU's Steve Thome.

"We intend to come up with a similar technology for camels, that's in the pipeline,” he says.