Swiss Bio-Agriculture Firm, Andermatt Sets Up Office in Kenya

Swiss bio-agriculture company Andermatt, has opened an office in Kenya as it looks to expand regionally.

The company offers all-natural approaches to managing pests and diseases as well as soil issues.

It will contain a facility for raising insects and be headquartered in Naivasha.

“The Phytoseiulus persimilis feeds on red spider mites, and consumes up to five adults or twenty eggs a day providing an effective biological control instead of spraying chemicals”, said Hamish Ker, Andermatt Regional Commercial Manager, in Naivasha during a visit to the facility.

In order to counteract the harmful red spider mite, particularly in flowers, the facility currently produces Phytoseiulus mites that are gathered every day and introduced in fields across Kenya.

It targets producing up to 20 million phytoseiulus per week.

In an effort to promote soil and plant health for secure, increased agricultural productivity, Ker suggested that regenerative and sustainable agriculture methods must be used as the globe struggles with issues related to climate change and food security.

According to him, using natural remedies will lessen the demand for conventional chemical treatments and salt fertilizers and increase the effectiveness, affordability, and plant nutrition of pest management.

“By using nature’s solutions, we can reduce the need for pesticides which in turn reduces pressure on the environment as well as production costs and makes for a more conducive farming environment.”

Kenya’s most popular crops, including maize, sukuma, potatoes, beans, tomatoes, wheat, sorghum, sunflower, and millet, are being grown at the Andermatt demonstration farm as part of a control experiment to demonstrate how mass root stimulation and soil conditioning can boost output with little outlay of resources.