BUGS MONEY
Real IPM - Kenya

Bringing down the cost of eco-friendly pest management using natural predators

IPM stands for ‘integrated pest management’ – the use of natural predators to control pests. It’s not a new technology. But biocontrol companies, which rear ‘natural enemies’ for sale to farmers, are not yet competitive with their chemical counterparts. Hence vast quantities of harmful chemical pesticides continue to be used throughout the world. To try to make the production of natural pests more cost-effective, husband and wife team Henry Wainwright and Louise Labuschange decided to set up Real IPM in Kenya, where the equatorial climate ensures a much faster rate of bug production. These savings are passed on to growers. Even small-scale farmers in poor countries can afford to introduce millions of bugs per hectare of land, as an effective control against such pests as the spider mite, leafminer and whitefly. To ensure best results, potential customers are obliged to pass an examination before they are permitted to make a purchase. As Real IPM admits, this is an unusual approach to business expansion! But it is an approach that they are confident will pay dividends in the long-run, since IPM failure is invariably the result of poor training and management. Real IPM has meant a real outlay for its founders who have put in their own savings. But to Louise making a profit from their company is a distant second to demonstrating by success that integrated pest management is a viable alternative to dousing Africa’s fields and greenhouses with damaging chemicals that the bugs quickly develop a resistance to.

What are they doing now

In 2003 husband and wife team Louise and Henry Wainwright sold their house in the UK and sunk the proceeds into a company to breed bugs. In classic World Challenge fashion the two scientists were convinced they could make a profit, safeguard the environment from chemical contamination and help local people. In 2005, their company Real IPM, located in the cut flower and vegetable cash-export growing region close to Nairobi, the Kenyan capital, was struggling to get off the ground.

According to Henry Wainwright, being featured in the World Challenge 2005 “was important because it raised our profile in many growers’ eyes.” He says the BBC World News coverage helped to convince the sceptics that natural predators are every bit as effective in controlling pests as environmentally damaging chemicals.

Real IPM reports that staying in business has been difficult, with red tape, punitive taxes and poor infrastructure as key constraints. But steadily these are being overcome and Real IPM reports a healthy interest among buyers in the UK and Netherlands of chemical-free flowers and vegetables from Kenya. Louise says: “Real IPM has increased bug production four-fold and we now have a strong export market to the EU for biological control products – now being re-exported from the EU to all over the world”.

The company now employs 80 Kenyans and has set up, according to Henry Wainwright, “a very successful ‘positive kitchen garden club’ for the staff.” They grow organic produce for the canteen and for sale in Nairobi. Henry reports that their positive kitchen garden clubs are being taken up by hospitals, schools, orphanages and prisons throughout Kenya.

For more on the real success of Real IPM look up www.realipm.com