Farmers’ Knowledge, Perceptions and Management of Moroccan Watermelon Mosaic Virus Disease Infecting Cucurbits in Selected Counties in Kenya

Cucurbits are important food crops worldwide due to their nutritional benefits and contribution to the national economies. In Kenya, cucurbits are mainly produced by small scale farmers for their leaves, immature or mature fruits and seeds. However, their production in the country is constrained by viral disease infections including Moroccan watermelon mosaic virus (MWMV), a potyvirus in the family potyviridae. The virus is transmitted mainly by several species of aphids in a non-persistent manner, with early infection resulting in complete yield loss. This study assessed farmers’ knowledge, perceptions and management practices of MWMV in three major growing cucurbits counties and seven sub-counties in Kenya namely, Machakos County (sub-counties Matungulu and Kangundo), Kirinyaga county (sub-counties Mwea East, Kirinyaga East and Kirinyaga West), Embu county (sub-counties Mbeere North and Embu West). A total of 229 smallholder farmers were randomly identified and a semi-structured questionnaire administered through face-to-face interviews was used to collect the data. The collected data was cleaned and subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Chi square test using SPSS software. The findings indicate that the respondents were aware of MWMV disease symptoms presence in their farms ranging from leaf distortion, dark green blisters and mosaic on the leaves. Majority of the respondents (49.5%) perceived the symptoms to be caused by weather changes while (16.1%) associated the symptoms with pests’ infestation while (11.1%) did not know the cause of the symptoms. Therefore, the Strategies to tackle plant viral diseases must include farm-level training to improve farmers' knowledge and disease management.