Tanzania-based Consortium to start manufacturing Agronets

Description

News article from HortiNews, "Tanzania-based Consortium to start manufacturing Agronets" published on Jan. 12, 2016, about public-private partnership to manufacture pest-exclusion nets.

A Tanzanian Company, A to Z Textile Mills, member of a consortium of companies producing OlysetR nets recently started to manufacture Agronets farmers can use to cover horticultural crops and prevent them from pest attacks. A to Z is partnering with the Michigan State University, Kenya Agricultural Research Institute, CIRAD, France, Egerton University and International Centre for Insect Physiology and Ecology in a USAID funded project to test the efficacy of these netting’s. A to Z is working on how to incorporate selective repellent or insecticide products into the netting. By treating the netting and not spraying the plants, A to Z believes that Agronets would enable farmers to produce without loading crops with chemicals which would be an added benefit to human health. A to Z believes it has the capacity to produce Agronets in such quantities that would enable it reap economies of scale and therefore keep the prices affordable to smallholder farmers.

 

Value Chain

Pest management

Technology

Pest-exclusion nets