Thous ands of farmers in Nigeria are successfully battling the invasion in their farms by the deadly parasitic weed Striga or “Wuta Wuta”. As a result they are enjoying higher yields in maize and cowpea, important staple and cash crops in Nigeria.
The key to managing this weed is to combine sustainable multiple-pronged technology options being advocated by the Integrated Striga Management in Africa (ISMA) project to sustainably eliminate the weed from their fields, says Dr Mel Oluoch, ISMA project manager based at IITA, which is coordinating the project.
More than 70 project implementers, representatives of government agencies, private sector players, and other stakeholders met in Kano on 7-8 April for the third National Review and Planning Meeting. The meeting aimed to review the progress being made on the ground and come up with the way forward for upscaling to reach thous ands of farmers in the next year.
Striga 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’ 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.
The weed is the number one maize and cowpea production constraint in Nigeria, infesting most farmers’ fields.
The four-year ISMA project demonstrates the effectiveness of using a combination of existing and new technologies, developed by various national and international research organizations and private companies, to sustainably control the lethal and hard-to-control Striga weed.
Management technologies range from cultural practices such as crop rotation of maize with soybean which stimulates Strigato germinate but which later dies in the absence of the maize host to latch onto; using Striga-resistant maize varieties; and using maize varieties resistant to Imazapyr—a BASF Crop Chemical herbicide (StrigAway®) and Metsulfuron Methyl (MSM), a Dupont Chemical herbicide which is coated on the herbicide-resistant maize seeds developed by IITA and which kills the Striga seed as it germinates and before it can cause any damage; other technologies include adopting novel Strigabiocontrol technologies which uses a naturally occurring host-specific fungal pathogen that kills the weed at all stages without affecting other crops; and deploying a “push-pull’ technology that involves intercropping cereals with specific Striga-suppressing desmodium forage legume.
The project, being implemented in Kenya and Nigeria, aims to reach 250,000 farmers directly and improve the livelihoods of over 25 million small-holder farmers in the immediate impact zones within 10 years. In addition, the project aims to increase current maize and cowpea yields by over 50% in Striga-infested areas and reduce the area under Strigainfestation by 13%.
According to Dr Alpha Kamara, IITA Systems Agronomist leading the project activities in Nigeria, “We are disseminating integrated solutions to tackle the Striga menace in Bauchi and Kano States in Northern Nigeria. In the three years, a total of 8600 farmers from 300 communities in Bauchi and Kano States have been trained on Striga management technologies. In addition, over 1770 demonstration fields have been established in the 300 communities to validate the field performance of the technologies and disseminate the best-bet practices and varieties.
About 112,000 target farmers have been reached with these technologies through multiple activities and pathways. In partnership with community based seed producers and private sector seed companies, about 1243 tons of seed of Striga-resistant maize and 300 tons of Striga-resistant cowpea have been produced and disseminated to farmers through community, government, and commercial channels.”
So far, the varieties developed such as herbicide-resistant (IR) maize varieties with natural resistance to Striga produce grain yields up to 4.6 t/ha on-farm compared to 1.7 t/ha with farmer- preferred varieties, says Dr Abebe Menkir, IITA Maize Breeder. The project has been disseminating to farmers Striga-resistant maize varieties that produce grain yields up to 3.6 t/ha on-farm, an increase of up to 126% under Striga infestation, compared with the common farmers’ varieties and commercial hybrids. In addition, Striga-resistant cowpea varieties are also being disseminated that produce grain yields of up to 1.35 t/ha on farm, when compared with 0.66 t/ha with farmer-preferred varieties.
The project is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and is being implemented in Nigeria in partnership with Kano Agricultural and Rural Development Authority (KNARDA); Bauchi State Agricultural Development Programme (BSADP); the Institute of Agricultural Research, Ahmadu Bello University; Bayero University, Kano; Maina Seed Company and Jirkur Seed Cooperatives in addition to many other public and private sector collaborators.
For more information, please contact:
Dr Mel Oluoch, Project Manager
Integrated Striga Management in Africa (ISMA) project
Mobile Tel: (Nigeria) +234 802 3265182; Office Tel: +234 810 1370097
Email: m.oluoch@cgiar.org
About IITA www.iita.org
The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) is one of the world’s leading research partners in finding solutions for hunger, malnutrition, and poverty. Its award-winning research for development (R4D) approach addresses the development needs of tropical countries. IITA works with partners to enhance crop quality and productivity, reduce producer and consumer risks, and generate wealth from agriculture. IITA is a non-profit organization founded in 1967 in Nigeria and governed by a Board of Trustees. IITA works on the following crops: cowpea, soybean, banana/plantain, yam, cassava, and maize. IITA is a member of CGIAR, a global agriculture research partnership for a food secure future.
Contributed by
Recent stories