Abstract:
Integrated pest management (IPM) strategies are being promoted to suppress
tephritid fruit fly infestation and reduce economic damage in mango production.
However, research on their economic performance across different mango
production scales (measured by the number of mango trees) is limited. This
study estimated the economic benefits of IPM practices (parasitoids, orchard
sanitation, food bait, biopesticides, male annihilation technique, and their
combinations) in Kenya’s small-, medium-, and large-scale mango production
systems. We used the value–cost ratio (VCR) and net present value methods to
estimate the heterogeneous economic performance of IPM practices using data
from two unique farm surveys. On average, all IPM practices were profitable across
various production scales. However, we found that these practices were more
profitable for medium-scale farmers than for small- and large-scale farmers. The
results show that farmers need a minimum of 9–17 trees, depending on the
practice used, to break even and that there are little to no economic benefits to
using IPM practices for farmers with more than 320 mango trees. The male
annihilation technique was the most profitable practice, with a VCR of 36, and
consequentially, the most adopted practice across all scales of production. Overall,
we found significant heterogeneity in the profitability of IPM practices across
different scales of production. The reason for the lack of profitability of IPM on
large-scale farms remains unclear and warrants further investigation
