The multinational Integrated Management of Invasive Aquatic Weeds (IMIAW) programme, aimed at controlling aquatic weeds in major bodies of water across eight West African countries, is tapping IITA to provide technical support, specifically in the area of biological control.
IITA will multiply and supply the biological control agents to be used by the project from its Benin-based Biological Control Centre for Africa. The institute has also been asked to provide capacity building and technical backstopping in replicating biological aquatic weed-control techniques and activities.
The five-year programme covering Nigeria, Benin, Ghana, Mali, Niger, Gambia, Senegal and Mauritania integrates physical and biological control measures against the aquatic pest. It is being undertaken under the auspices of the Regional Water Resources Coordination Unit of the ECOWAS Commission and is funded by the African Development Bank.
Simeon Ighodaro, acting project coordinator attached to the Nigerian Ministry of Environment, says that “the principal objective of the project is the long-term sustainable management of water resources in the four shared bodies of water in West Africa. The control of invasive aquatic weeds is one of the more important measures to achieve this objective.”
“The use of biological control measures and agents, such as those coming from IITA, will be crucial in ensuring the sustainability of the programme itself,” he adds.
The four shared water bodies are Benin’s and Nigeria’s coasts, the Middle and Upper Niger River Basin comprising Benin, Nigeria, Niger and Mali, the Tano and Oti River Systems and reservoirs of Ghana and the Senegal River System traversing Mali, Senegal, Mauritania and The Gambia.
Ighodaro also says that the IMIAW programme would help alleviate poverty in the communities along the wetl and areas of the participating countries. By removing the weeds from the waterways, which block transportation and hamper the daily economic activities of the people in these communities, marketing and trade will be enhanced and transport cost of commodities will be reduced.
Under the programme, private firms will be contracted to mechanically uproot deeply-set and submerged weeds in Ghana, Nigeria and Senegal.
Manual weed control would also be utilized in all the affected countries through the participation of the communities living around the water bodies. To help them with the task, the programme will provide them with appropriate training, simple and cost-effective h and tools and motorized locally-made canoes.
Biological control methods and agents to be provided by IITA will complement these mechanical control measures. Communities will also be trained in their proper application and use.
The environmental impacts on waterways of aquatic weeds can be devastating. Reduced sunlight penetration leads to native plant decomposition and oxygen depletion resulting in fish kills, while high plant transpiration leads to a four-fold increase in water loss.
The resulting thick mat of aquatic weed forms a physical barrier for birds and animals trying to access water. It is also a health risk to humans and livestock. During floods, the huge volume of weed can damage infrastructure such as pumping and irrigation equipment, fences and bridges.
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