Hunger looms as deadly weed destroys 450,000 tonnes of maize

By NICHOLAS WAITATHU

KENYA: Western and parts of Nyanza are at risk of losing an estimated 450,000 tonnes of maize.  This is as striga — a parasitic weed continues to decimate over 300,000 hectares of the crop.

More than 300,000 farmers in the counties of Bungoma, Siaya, Busia, Vihiga, Kisumu, Kakamega, Migori, and Homa Bay, are the most affected by the weed. This leaves about 1.5 million people at risk of starvation.

The destructive weed is also showing traces in other food basket regions including areas in Rift Valley and Central.

Across East Africa, the weed infests up to 40 million hectares of smallholder farmland in the region — occasioning yield loses ranging from 20-80 per cent and even total crop failure in severe infestation.

More harm

 In its wake more than a million farmers are counting massive losses.  Marking the (AATF) 10th Anniversary celebrations of the African Agricultural Technology Foundation in Nairobi last week, scientists, agro-dealers, farmers, and local seed companies warned that unless more was done, the weed will severely dent the country’s efforts at ensuring food security.  “Over one million growers in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda have been counting losses as the weed destroys their crops,” AATF Seed System Manager Gospel Omanya said.

 “We have engaged the growers through new technology but the weed is yet to be fully contained,” he said, adding that seeds of the dangerous weed remain in the soil for up to 20 years.

“Due to its characteristics and longevity in the soil, it is able to infest new crops in each season, frustrating efforts to enhance food security.”  

Striga is a parasitic weed that seriously constrains the productivity of staples such as maize, sorghum, millet and upland rice in sub-Saharan Africa.  The weed survives by siphoning off water and nutrients from the crops for its own growth.

Yet, according to the forum, this is just one of the challenges of food production on the continent.

Low prices

Prof Gordon Conway from the Imperial College, London, blamed low commodity prices and poor technology as central to the problems that afflict African farmers.

“Government’s must draft policies that encourage farmers to adopt modern technology,” Prof Conway said, noting that while farmers in developed countries produce up to 11 tonnes per hectare, local farmers hardly post a tonne.

“The beginning point could be adoption of drought-resistant seeds and use of appropriate technology to fight pests and diseases that threaten crop production,” he said.

The most incapacitating aspect to food production, however, is farmers’ limited market access and its inevitable twin of poor commodity prices. Dr Denis Kyetere, the AATF executive director said governments should invest in structures and policies that link farmers to appropriate markets.

“This way, agriculture becomes a business and farmers are guaranteed where to sell their produce and at how much,” he said.

He observed that the State should also work out modalities to help finance farming especially among smallholder farmers. “Access to markets is also key to stemming post-harvest losses,” he said.

According to a survey by Tegemeo Institute, a research arm of Egerton University, smallholder farmers lose up to a quarter of the total value of the grain produced annually to pests such as weevil.