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Rukungiri , Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Farmers in Rukungiri district are battling the invasion of black coffee twig borers.
The farmers argue that the disease has affected their expected output.
Adrine Twakiire, a farmer from Buhunga sub county says that her two acres of coffee plantations were growing perfectly last year until they were invaded by a pest she could not identify. Twakiire explains that on consulting other farmers, she was told that her plants have been attacked by coffee twig borers.
Twakiire says that she is stuck yet the borer is seriously destroying her coffee plants.
Ismail Musimenta a coffee farmer from Bwambara sub county says that out of his two acres less than 20 plants are still surviving. Twakiire says that his efforts of spraying with chemicals have not yielded positive.
Gideon Havy, another farmer from Nyakatembe A village in Kikara parish says that the invasion of the disease has greatly affected his harvests. Havy says that the pesticide he got from his sub-county extension worker partly killed black coffee twig borers.
He however says that he stopped further spraying after failing to raise funds to buy more pesticides.
Edgar Nabasa, Uganda Coffee Development Authority Extension Officer-in-charge of Rukungiri and Kanungu districts advises farmers to use local methods of controlling the borer by pruning and weeding of coffee plants.
Colonel Martin Nahurira, the head of Operation Wealth Creation in Rukungiri district says cut unwanted branches on a coffee plant because they work as a perfect hibernation for black coffee twig borers.
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