The Loitokitok region is one of Kenya's main onion production areas, with nearly a third of the country’s onions grown here. But only when Starke Ayres introduced Dominator did local farmers’ problems with purple blotch come to an end.
Dominator has become very popular owing to its higher resistance to purple blotch, a very common onion disease in Loitokitok. Purple blotch generally reduces onion yields and increases the grower’s production cost of spraying the fungicide against the disease. By planting Dominator, the extra production cost of spraying is avoided. Dominator generally outstands most fungal foliage diseases. Dominator also has good uniformity and deep-red colour and is thus farmers’ favourite red-hybrid onion in this region.
Dominator holds well in the shelf life for up to two to three months as the farmer waits for the market. The bulbs don’t turn black or begin to rot during storage or curing. The vigour during the vegetative phase is excellent. Farmers are getting up to 25 tons per acre on production.
