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Doctoral Thesis | Environmental Science Studies | Kenya | Volume 12 Issue 6, June 2023

Gender Roles Influencing Fall Armyworm Management Towards Environmental and Food Production Resilience in Bomet County, Kenya

Nyakwara Z. A. | Moturi W. N. | Esilaba M. O.

Abstract: The emergence and rapid spread of the fall armyworm (FAW) Spodoptera frugiperda in Africa having spread from its Native American since 2016 seriously threatens the food crop production of millions of smallholder farmers. In December 2016, the Kenyan government started experiencing the invasion of FAW threatening the food crop production in the country. Smallholder farmers have different household setups with gender differentials towards managements of any new invasive crop pests including FAW. A household baseline survey and focus group discussions were done using a structured questionnaire and checklist with the aim of identifying gender roles in the management of the fall armyworm invasion in Bomet County. The study result showed that both male and female farmers were involved in decision making during pesticide spraying, local sorcery (seers), shifting of priority crop production, mixing hybrid maize seeds alongside local maize seed varieties, feeding livestock with infected plants, crop rotation, and inter - cropping and mono - cropping. Spiritual interventions and manual killing was done by female farmers only whereas, there was no role that was done by male farmers only. There should be awareness creations on farmers so that they don?t spread fall armyworm through their management practices such as transporting infected plants to feed their animals. There should be training for both men and women farmers on fall armyworm management practices whereas, the training should take into consideration the different gender roles.

Keywords: Gender, Fall Armyworm, Households, Food Production, Environmental Management

Edition: Volume 12 Issue 6, June 2023,

Pages: 2277 - 2283