News article from HortiNews, "Tanzania-based Consortium to start manufacturing Agronets" published on Jan. 12, 2016, about public-private partnership to manufacture pest-exclusion nets.
A Tanzanian Company, A to Z Textile Mills, member of a consortium of companies producing OlysetR nets recently started to manufacture Agronets farmers can use to cover horticultural crops and prevent them from pest attacks. A to Z is partnering with the Michigan State University, Kenya Agricultural Research Institute, CIRAD, France, Egerton University and International Centre for Insect Physiology and Ecology in a USAID funded project to test the efficacy of these netting’s. A to Z is working on how to incorporate selective repellent or insecticide products into the netting. By treating the netting and not spraying the plants, A to Z believes that Agronets would enable farmers to produce without loading crops with chemicals which would be an added benefit to human health. A to Z believes it has the capacity to produce Agronets in such quantities that would enable it reap economies of scale and therefore keep the prices affordable to smallholder farmers.