{"id":13104,"date":"2026-06-20T12:26:24","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T12:26:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.iita.org\/news-item\/project-chalks-up-significant-progress-to-save-maize-from-parasitic-striga-in-kenya-and-nigeria\/"},"modified":"2026-06-20T12:26:24","modified_gmt":"2026-06-20T12:26:24","slug":"project-chalks-up-significant-progress-to-save-maize-from-parasitic-striga-in-kenya-and-nigeria","status":"publish","type":"news-item","link":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/news-item\/project-chalks-up-significant-progress-to-save-maize-from-parasitic-striga-in-kenya-and-nigeria\/","title":{"rendered":"Project chalks up significant progress to save maize from parasitic Striga in Kenya and Nigeria"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"http:\/\/newint.iita.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/image_gallery-8-3.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-9953\" src=\"http:\/\/newint.iita.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/image_gallery-8-3.jpg\" alt=\"Image\" width=\"250\" height=\"170\" \/><\/a>Thous ands of farmers in Kenya  and Nigeria are successfully battling the invasion in their farms by <em>Striga<\/em>, a deadly parasitic weed also called \u201cpurple vampire\u201d. They are now enjoying higher yields in maize, the number one staple in Kenya  and an important cash crop in Nigeria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The key to managing this weed is to combine sustainable multiple-pronged technology options being advocated by the Integrated <em>Striga<\/em> Management in Africa (ISMA) project to sustainably eliminate the weed from their fields, says Dr Mel Oluoch, ISMA project manager.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">More than 60 project implementers, partners, private sector players,  and other stakeholders met in Kisumu, Kenya, 4-7 June for the Second Annual Review  and Planning Meeting to review the project status, evaluate project indicators  and processes, identify gaps,  and plan for next year\u2019s implementation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Striga<\/em> attacks  and greatly reduces the production of staple foods  and commercial crops such as maize, sorghum, millet, rice, sugarcane,  and cowpea. The weed attaches itself to the roots of plants  and removes water  and nutrients  and can cause losses of up to 100% in farmers\u2019 crops. Furthermore, a single flower of the weed can produce up to 50,000 seeds that can lie dormant in the soil for up to 20 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The weed is the number one maize production constraint in Western Kenya,  and Nigeria, infesting most farmers\u2019 fields.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The management technologies range from simple cultural practices such as intercropping maize with legumes such as groundnuts; crop rotation of maize with soybean which stimulates <em>Striga<\/em> to germinate but which later dies in the absence of the maize host to latch onto; deploying a \u201cpush-pull\u2019 technology that involves intercropping cereals with specific <em>Striga<\/em>-suppressing desmodium forage legume; using <em>Striga<\/em>-resistant maize varieties;  and using CIMMYT-developed maize varieties resistant to Imazapyr\u2014a BASF herbicide (StrigAway\u00ae), which kills the <em>Striga <\/em>seed as it germinates  and before it can cause any damage;  and adopting <em>Striga<\/em> biocontrol technologies which uses a naturally occurring host-specific fungal pathogen that kills the <em>Striga<\/em> at all stages without affecting other crops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Imazapyr-resistant maize varieties with natural resistance to <em>Striga hermonthica<\/em> have been developed. The best hybrids produce 19% to 333% more grain yields under <em>Striga <\/em>infestation, sustain 17% to 57% less <em>Striga<\/em> damage,  and support 63% to 98% less emerged <em>Striga<\/em> plants compared with the commercial hybrid check. In addition, new <em>Striga<\/em> resistant hybrids  and open-pollinated synthetic varieties (OPVs) that combine <em>Striga<\/em> resistance with good st andability have been developed. The hybrids  and OPVs produce 47% to 126% more grain yields under Striga infestation, sustain 17% to 60% less <em>Striga<\/em> damage,  and support 45% to 90% less emerged <em>Striga <\/em>plants compared with the common farmers\u2019 varieties  and commercial hybrids.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">ISMA (<a href=\"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/web\/striga\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">http:\/\/www.iita.org\/web\/striga\/<\/a>) is funded by the Bill &amp; Melinda Gates Foundation  and is being implemented with <em>icipe<\/em>, CIMMYT, African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF), BASF Crop Protection,  and other national agricultural research  and extension services  and private sector players in Kenya  and Nigeria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>\u00c0 propos de l'IITA<\/strong> (<a href=\"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/\">www.iita.org<\/a>)<br>Africa has complex problems that plague agriculture  and people&#8217;s lives. We develop agricultural solutions with our partners to tackle hunger  and poverty. Our award-winning research for development (R4D) is based on focused, authoritative thinking anchored on the development needs of sub-Saharan Africa. We work with partners in Africa  and beyond to reduce producer  and consumer risks, enhance crop quality  and productivity,  and generate wealth from agriculture. IITA is an international non-profit R4D organization established in 1967, governed by a Board of Trustees,  and supported primarily by CGIAR.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>About CGIAR <\/strong>(<a href=\"http:\/\/www.cgiar.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">www.cgiar.org<\/a>)<br>CGIAR is a global agriculture research partnership for a food secure future. Its science is carried out by the 15 research centers who are members of the CGIAR Consortium in collaboration with hundreds of partner organizations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>For more information, contact Dr Mel Oluoch at <\/em><a><em>m.oluoch@cgiar.org<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Thousands of farmers in Kenya and Nigeria are successfully battling the invasion in their farms by Striga, a deadly parasitic weed also called \u201cpurple vampire\u201d. They are now enjoying higher yields in maize, the number one staple in Kenya and an important cash crop in Nigeria&#8230;<\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}}},"tags":[],"science-area":[],"program":[],"location":[],"news-type":[],"hub":[],"crop":[68],"impact-areas":[],"item-year":[191],"class_list":["post-13104","news-item","type-news-item","status-publish","hentry","crop-maize","item-year-191"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Project chalks up significant progress to save maize from parasitic Striga in Kenya and Nigeria - IITA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/news-item\/project-chalks-up-significant-progress-to-save-maize-from-parasitic-striga-in-kenya-and-nigeria\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"fr_FR\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Project chalks up significant progress to save maize from parasitic Striga in Kenya and Nigeria - IITA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Thousands of farmers in Kenya and Nigeria are successfully battling the invasion in their farms by Striga, a deadly parasitic weed also called \u201cpurple vampire\u201d. 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