A chronicling of long-standing carbofuran use and its menace to wildlife in Kenya - Carbofuran and Wildlife Poisoning: Global Perspectives and Forensic Approaches - page 44

Table 3.1 Annual importation of insecticides/acaricides, carbofuran and malathion into Kenya
between 1986 and 2004

Insecticides
and acaricides
(tonnes)

Carbofuran
(technical)
(tonnes)

Carbofuran
(technical)
(litres)

Malathion
(technical)
(tonnes)

Total
(tonnes) Year

2004 7672 3278 ND ND ND

2003 7205 2987 ND ND ND

2002 6826 2747 ND ND ND

2001 5651 2320 ND ND ND

2000 4432 1762 ND ND ND

1999 6179 2186 ND ND ND

1998 7606 1814 ND ND ND

1997 5828 2078 ND ND ND

1996 6946 1876 ND ND ND

1995 5109 1413 ND ND ND

1994 4032 1050 ND ND ND

1993 3553 839 ND ND ND

1992 6590 1670 23 15 000 10

1991 4051 1072 10 21 000 13

1990 4893 1572 12 16 000 19

1989 7711 1571 7 10 000 16

1988 8257 1089 14 NI 9

1987 3929 1206 30 2 000 15

1986 2650 1076 8 NI 20

Source: Pest Control Products Board of Kenya (PCPB, 2006)
Total: includes insecticides/acaricides, herbicides, fungicides and others (not classifi ed)
NI: not imported
ND: no data available

In the 1980s, fi elds were regularly sprayed with insecticides including carbofuran, fenitrothion and
DDT to control agricultural pests and mosquitoes. All the rice schemes in Ahero (in Nyando District)
were aerially sprayed (using Furadan 5G, which came in 200 g packages, at a cost of 140 KSh/
ca. 2 USD each) in response to an outbreak of some of the common rice pests including army worm
( Spodoptera frugiperda ), bacterial wilt aphid and black rot (Ouma 1983). However, no specifi c
details of exact quantities used during each aerial spray nor application rates were given. Dimethoate,
diazinon, lambda-cyhalothrin (Karate) and the acaricide amitraz (Triatix) were also used at this time.
Ministry of Agriculture reports (Anonymous 1980) from the 1980s describe the Yala Integrated
Development Plan, which supported rice farmers by providing funding to offset the cost of pesti-
cides and irrigation equipment, and the services of district government advisers. These reports con-
tain information on carbofuran use in small-scale projects (up to 50 hectares), medium-scale projects
(50 to 1 000 hectares) and large-scale projects (above 1 000 hectares). Rice and other crops includ-
ing vegetables, maize, beans and sugarcane were grown in farms gravity-fed from the River Yala.
The soils in this area are well drained, deep, friable clays in the catchment with gentle slopes and
imperfectly drained fi rm impermeable clays along the streams (see Section 3.2 for a discussion on
the role of soil content in pesticide retention).
Under the Integrated Development Plan, the average price of Furadan for farmers on a typical
sized plot (i.e., 1.6 hectares) was 15, 80 and 305 KSh (a range of approximately 25 cents to 4 USD)