Kenyanske pesticide-bønder har i årevis arbejdet uden at se skyggen af deres løn. På grund af dårlig industriel ledelse står det nu uklart, om de overhovedet får den. Kenya er nemlig ikke længere hovedproducent af pesticidet, pyrethrum.
Pyrethrum er ekstrakt fra en kurvblomst, der tidligere henførtes til slægten Chrysanthemum. Stoffet anvendes i dag i mindre omfang som insektgift, hvorimod syntetiske efterligninger af naturligt pyrethrum, såkaldte pyrethroider, benyttes i stor udstrækning til bekæmpelse af skadedyr.
NAKURU, 9 November 2011 (IRIN): Mismanagement of Kenya’s once globally dominant pyrethrum industry has dealt a harsh blow to the 200.000 or so farmers who used to grow the natural pesticide, many of whom have not been paid for three years, leading them to uproot (udrydde) their crops.
Farmers are hoping their fortunes will be reversed if and when the state’s monopoly on buying, processing and marketing the plant is lifted.
A government bill proposing the liberalization of the pyrethrum market has yet to be tabled in parliament. Once agreed, the bill will enable pyrethrum farmers, mainly from the Rift Valley highlands, to seek competitive markets for the plant.
A decade ago, the pyrethrum sector earned Kenya at least 20,8 million US dollar annually, with the country accounting for up to 70 per cent of global production. But now Rwanda and Tanzania are the leading pyrethrum producers.
According to Isaac Mulagoli, the new managing director of the Pyrethrum Board of Kenya (PBK), the industry has the potential to earn about 135 million dollar annually in foreign exchange.
No money for 20.000 farmers
But mismanagement and bad debts are adversely affecting the industry.
At present, the pyrethrum board owes some 20.000 farmers about 541.000 dollar for pyrethrum deliveries made between August 2008 and July 2009. Farmers deliver harvested and sun-dried pyrethrum flower heads via rural co-operatives to the centrally located PBK factory and are paid according to the weight and content of the harvests.
– PBK owes me 60.000 shillings (625 US dollar), which I would have spent on educating my grandchildren, whose single mother is jobless, said Isaac Kariuki, a pyrethrum farmer.
Kariuki is growing the plant on just 0,2 hectars of land from an initial 2,4 hectar but is hoping to revert to pyrethrum farming when the situation improves.
According to Mulagoli, the board also owes the government funds it was allocated in the 2006-07 and 2007-08 financial years – hence the government’s reluctance to bail it out a third time.
Staff and management have not been paid for at least two months.
The government has allowed PBK to sell some assets to offset the more urgent debts, such as paying farmers.
– We even increased payment for the farmers to 100 shillings (about 1 US dollar) from the earlier Sh60 (0,6 dollar) per kg in a bid to encourage them to deliver produce to PBK, said Mulagoli, adding:
– But the factory which earlier operated day and night only operates once a month, when enough deliveries are made.
The payments are also based on the pyrethrin content of the harvested flowerheads, with 100 shillings being the lower limit.
Pyrethrins are naturally occurring chemicals with active insecticidal components found in the pyrethrum flower heads.
Liberalization
Læs videre på http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=94172
