Save the mole catcher trouble, here is a plant to keep your farm rat-free

Tom Nyangweso demonstrates a point on the tephrosia vogelii plants that grow on his farm in Kakamega County. The plants have the capability to control rodents in the farm. PHOTO | ISAIAH ESIPISU | NMG

What you need to know:

  • The farmers plant Tephrosia randomly on their farms, or they use the plant to fence off their plots under tuber crops.
  • The rodents spend their entire lives underground, tearing up lawns and gardens, destroying crops in the fields as they search for food.
  • The entomologist says that such pests can be devastating and extremely frustrating for smallholder farmers, hence, they must be kept in check.
  • According to International Center for Tropical Agriculture, the plant is also an alternative host for root-knot nematodes (disease-causing microscopic worms) and may cause high nematode infections in susceptible crops like beans or tomatoes.

After trying out many ways, including laying of traps to get rid of moles and root rats from their farms in vain, Tom Joseph Olumasai Nyangweso and his neighbours in Ebunyiri village, Kakamega County have finally found a simple natural way of managing the underground pests.

“Infestation of moles and root-rats particularly on Irish potato, sweet potato or cassava farms can lead to a huge loss, and yet taming them has never been easy given that they live underground,” says Nyangweso, a smallholder farmer and a father of six children.

The farmer, together with others in the past three years, has been able to keep off the destructive underground rodents just by planting ‘fish-bean’ plant, scientifically known as Tephrosia vogelii randomly on their farms, or using the plant to fence their plots under tuber crops.

Locally known in Luhya as ifukho or ‘fuko’ in Swahili, moles usually create elaborate underground tunnels known as runways.

The tunnels can either be deep or shallow sometimes with mounds and ridges showing above the ground.

The rodents spend their entire lives underground, tearing up lawns and gardens, destroying crops in the fields as they search for food.

Only seven to 12 moles are enough to devastate one hectare under Irish potatoes, sweet potatoes or cassava.

Moles also destroy nearly all other crops planted in infested fields or even lawn gardens. They reproduce in multiples every season and therefore their population can increase very fast.

Farmers in Ebunyiri had always controlled them by laying traps, keeping poisoned tubers along the runways or simply by digging them out using hoes, until they discovered the magical in Tephrosia vogelii.

“Tephrosia vogelii is not a new crop in Western Kenya,” says Robert Amianda, a smallholder farmer from Essong’olo village in Vihiga County.

“However, we have always known it as a wild plant that children use to paralyse fish in small streams, causing them to float for easy catch,” he says.

According to Nyangweso, planting fish bean shrubs for mole control is so far the easiest and cheapest way he has ever known since his childhood. He is over 50 years old.

Dr Arne Witt of the Centre for Agricultural Bioscience International says that growing of Tephrosia vogelii should not be promoted because of its toxicity, but other experts believe that its benefits override the disadvantages.

“Whenever I talk to farmers whose farms have been infested by moles, rodents or root rats among other similar pests, I always encourage them to grow Tephrosia vogelii as a remedy for destructive mammals,” says Dr Eston Mutitu, a Principal Research Scientist and an entomologist at the Kenya Forest Research Institute.

The entomologist says that such pests can be devastating and extremely frustrating for smallholder farmers, hence, they must be kept in check.

“Biological control of pests is always better than chemical control,” he tells the Seeds of Gold.

He notes that the plant’s roots emits chemicals that repel moles from the farm.

Dr Beatrice Tuei, through her contribution to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation – Farmer Innovative Exchange Group discussion, points out that Tephrosia vogelii has many other multiple uses in agriculture productivity.

Apart from controlling moles, Dr Tuei explains that it is a good source of pollen and nectar for the honey bee, it is also used by pastoralists to fight ticks in livestock and it has been proven to be helpful in countering the issue of tick resistance to acaricides, which is as a result of continuous use of a single type of chemical.

“The herb is used to interrupt their reproductive cycle, destroying ticks that are not fully grown and which have soft skins,” notes Dr Tuei, a veterinary expert.

According to the World Agroforestry Centre’s tree database, Tephrosia vogelii is cultivated in Indonesia as a green manure, windbreaker and temporary shade crop in cocoa, coffee, tea, rubber and cinchona plantations.

Being a legume, the crop is also a well known nitrogen-fixing species.

In central Africa, Indonesia, the Philippines and Peninsular Malaysia, the plant is used as manure, especially in coconut plantations.

However, it should be noted that foliage and seed of Tephrosia vogelii are not suitable for human and livestock consumption.

According to International Center for Tropical Agriculture, the plant is also an alternative host for root-knot nematodes (disease-causing microscopic worms) and may cause high nematode infections in susceptible crops like beans or tomatoes.

It is therefore important to remove it from the farm once the moles and rats are gone leaving only those on the edge.