Mkwawa University College of Education (MUCE) is a constituent college of the University of Dar es Salaam and was founded to meet the country's need for qualified secondary school teachers. It's the only public university college in the Iringa region of Tanzania's southern highlands. Degree programs are offered from the Faculty of Education, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, and the Faculty of Science, which houses the Department of Chemistry. The Department of Chemistry trains students primarily to become chemistry teachers in Tanzania's secondary schools, high-quality leaders, and experts applicable in chemical industries.

In recent years, tomato yields in Tanzania have been cut in half because of invasive pests and crop diseases, depriving the farmers who grow tomatoes for both food and livelihoods. Because 70% of Tanzania’s population works in agriculture, these pests are a national issue.

In 2016, Tanzanian farmers found their tomato plants being ravaged by a moth called Tuta absoluta, an invasive pest that originated in South America. They needed to defend their crops, but spraying pesticides, the most accessible solution, is an unsustainable and environmentally hazardous tactic.

Fikira Kimbokota, PhD, (left) lecturer of organic chemistry at MUCE, is searching for a different solution.

“Being a scientist and an educator means being a leader in solving problems,” she says.

Instead of spraying potentially poisonous pesticides to eliminate pests like fruit flies and tomato moths, Dr. Kimbokota is trying a different, more environmentally-friendly approach. She is identifying and isolating compounds from crops that attract these invasive insects, and then plans to find ways to use those compounds as bait in traps.

However, to identify the most effective compounds, Dr. Kimbokota needs specialized equipment that's not currently available at MUCE.

She currently sends her samples to outside institutes for analysis, which she says is expensive and time-consuming, as well as risky for her samples. This slows down her research, which has the potential to positively impact agricultural productivity in Tanzania.

“Equipment from the Seeding Labs would make this work doable right in our laboratories, rather than relying on external institutions for equipment,” Dr. Kimbokota says. “Our findings will pave the way for finding methods to fight pests and promote agricultural productivity.”