back
Maize Seed Launched to Resist Striga
Business Daily Africa, Nairobi
March 15, 2007
By Bob Wayne Bell Jr.
Comment & excerpts
According to current AGRA President and Foundation Director Gary Toenniessen, the news story ‘Maize Seed Launched to Resist Striga’ in the Business Daily Africa is the outcome of The Rockefeller Foundation’s ability to foster an agricultural product from its conceptual beginnings through the eve of its application – in this case on maize fields in Kenya. Ten years ago, a brain-storming session at the Foundation’s New York offices addressed the question of how to control Striga, a parasetic weed that strangles maize, causes dramatic crop losses and increases hunger in sub-Saharan Africa. The session was followed, of course, by years of research. Ua Kayongo (Striga Killer) is the product that came out of this research. After field tests that doubled yields, the product has been put on the market.
top of the pageMaize farmers in western Kenya suffering from the infestation of an endemic weed will be able to purchase a new herbicide-coated hybrid seed this month, which could increase yields.
Empowering African Farmers to Eradicate Striga from Maize Croplands (PDF)
Striga weed attaches to the roots of growing host plants, siphoning off water and nutrients for its own growth. Eventually, host plants that emerge above ground may wither leading to total crop loss....In western Kenya alone, the weed affects 210,000 hectares of cropland, resulting in losses of about Sh800 million for farmers each year...
However, a new maize hybrid seed coated with Strigaway herbicide kills Striga when it attaches to and starts feeding on the germinating maize plant. This variety, called Ua Kayongo (Striga Killer), suppresses and reduces Striga seed banks in the soil for almost the whole crop season.
In farm trials in western Kenya, Ua Kayongo multiplied maize yields by two-fold, with heavily infested Striga plots registering a three-fold increase, according to the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF). The AATF is collaborating with Government, research and corporate partners to disseminate the herbicide-coated hybrid seed to farmers...
However, Ua Kayongo lasts for just one season, as replanting the seeds after the harvest will not provide protection against Striga or produce the same agricultural yields.
For the technology to truly benefit the farmers, they must continuously buy the herbicide-coated seeds every planting season. And they must buy from seed companies until they can be trained to do the delicate process of coating seeds themselves.
© Cpyright 2000-2007 by Nation Media Group. All rights reserved.