Gabriele Stoll
Natural Crop Protection in the Tropics
Letting Information Come to Life
Letting information come to life
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Development Process of a
Small-Scale Neem Processing Plant
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Letting information come to life
Development Process of a Small-Scale Neem
Processing Plant:
GTZ Experience in Kenya
by Dr. Peter Förster
During the past decades, GTZ (Gesellschaft
für technische Zusammenarbeit, the German technical
cooperation agency) has promoted extensively the utilization of
neem as a home-made plant protection product. In cooperation
with scientists, extension workers and farmers the development
of simple, home-made extracts has been studied, tested and
improved. The resulting recommendations are being promoted
through a number of GTZ projects.
Background situation and context
An extensive analysis of the acceptance of
this approach led to the recognition that only between 5 and
10% of the farmers who have learned about the proper use of
simple, home-made neem extracts have continued to use them
regularly. The GTZ Pesticide Service Project identified in this
analysis a number of shortcomings, such as:
• Knowledge of the uses of neem is
not yet widely disseminated.
• Often neem is not available at
sites where pest problems are most severe, e.g. in the uplands
or in humid regions.
• The harvesting time of neem fruits
tends to coincide with the time when farmers are already busy
with other farm activities.
• The drying and storing of neem
seeds requires extra work.
• There are doubts of the effectivity
of neem because it does not produce immediate 'knock-down'
effects.
• There are technical problems with
the preparation and application of neem extracts, particularly
the clogging of the nozzles.
• The available commercial neem
products are generally too expensive in comparison to
conventional pesticides.
• Commercial neem products are
available on the market to a very limited degree only.
• The use of home-made products is
regarded as old-fashioned.
Some of these bottlenecks can be addressed
through:
• improving access to information.
• suitable training & extension
approaches and methodologies which also provide backup support
over the longer term.
However, for some of the identified
problems, particularly the access to neem products anytime and
anywhere and the confidence in the effectiveness of neem, the
production of standardized and low-cost commercially available
products is another answer. In addition, the local production
of neem-based pesticides supports the development of local
industries.
Motivation and expectations of farmers
More and more farmers are interested in
new approaches to crop protection because they are faced with
decreasing effectiveness of synthetic pesticides due to
increasing resistance of insects, they are faced with their own
health problems, but also with a rising consumer pressure to
produce residue-free products. A growing awareness about the
environment, and positive results with the effectiveness of
neem in the control of problematic insects such as leaf miners
and nematodes, lead to a growing interest and pride in using
locally available products. In situations where farmers are
cash-strapped, they are forced-motivated into using home-made
extracts. However, as soon as they can afford it, they will
tend to choose commercially available neem products.
Possibilities of using the Neem tree
The project
Against this background, the IPM
Horticulture Project in Kenya, in cooperation with the
Pesticide Service Project of the GTZ, conceptualized a project
which had as objective the development and production of
standardized neem products which are fully registered and
competitive on the market with major synthetic pesticides.
In a first step the availability of
neem was assessed. Furthermore, it was investigated who among
the Extension Service and NGOs had knowledge of neem, worked
already with neem or was interested in a cooperation.
In a second step, detailed data were
collected on availability, quantity and quality of neem, on
potential stakeholders and cooperators (collectors, promoters,
processors, marketers and users) as well as on the
establishment of a processing unit, locally available technical
components etc. As a result, suitable districts with sufficient
neem supplies were identified. Through comparing different
scenarios it was identified that the collection of neem seeds
in a centralized manner was more cost-effective. Constructing
several decentralized processing units would have increased the
costs unrealistically. The central pilot processing plant was
decided to be constructed in Nairobi. The risk of the neem
seeds developing the fungus Aspergillus flavus, which produces
the carcinogenic aflatoxins, is much lower in the highlands
near Nairobi than in the lowlands where the neem trees are
predominantly found.
The next step focused on the design
of the approach. The cooperators were selected,
responsibilities negotiated and agreed upon. In this process
local farmer and women organizations from the identified
districts participated as well as representatives of local
administrations and traditional leaders. During this process
awareness was raised about the usefulness of neem and thus the
overall support strengthened. Central at this stage was the
identification of a committed entrepreneur and visionary
officials who became the driving force.
Once this framework had been shaped,
seed collection was initiated. A system with several collection
points was established which was run by local agents. These
agents acted as small local entrepreneurs who bought seeds from
local collectors and who sold to the processor for a surcharge.
During the collection period seeds were dispatched every
2–3 days from the collection points to the processing
unit using public transportation.
Interested collectors were trained
on how to collect, clean, dry and store neem seeds in order to
secure good quality. The price for the seeds was determined by
the quality. This proved quite useful for maintaining a good
quality of the raw product. However, with increasing demand,
the collectors tried to drive up the price which conflicted
with the objective of providing a product that can compete with
the price of synthetic pesticides.
Once the seeds have arrived in the
store at the processing unit, the seed moisture content is
controlled and – if too moist – seeds are sun-dried
until the right seed moisture content of ca. 8–10% is
obtained.
The concentration of the major active
compound Azadirachtin varies greatly depending on the site from
where the seeds are collected. Alltogether, the concentration
of this active substance is high in Kenya.
The printed version contains more
information about the following themes:
The pilot processing plant
The products
Registration
Product introduction
Economic considerations
Conclusions and recommendations