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Je DAllYTRUsr Friday. October 19, 2012
FEATURE Freedom at last for farmers JKOt«I.~
he adJrd. In Nignia. tht Prot«' bcill8
At last farmers are free from th e deadly va mpire weed. which has always been a nightmare for farm ers.
I'
impktmnlN in Kano and 8 ..uc:hi
SlaIn
In putnnwith Kana Scatc AgkuJtwe and Rural Dcw:I-
"up
From IbrAhim Mus. Giglnyu. Kano
opmenI Authority ( KNARDA ), BaudU SLIk AcrKulture De~dopmcnt Prolrammt (BASOp)' Bayao UniYmity, Kano, The Institute of Agricull uraJ It<KaKh. ...........
annen lltoW\d the tropical rqioo ol W a t Africa have bftn tonmnled by the vampirt: weed known ill Strip and popuWfy refund 10 u the' witcM ~ The wud has been every farmer. nightmare as it alway5putafrownon thdr faca It ltconIkkrcd 10 be one of tht bluest constnlDU
F
to <lgriCUllun in lub-Saharan Afnca. Also known as tht: viokt nmptn bccauw of the buutiful viokc flowa-s il produces. thor: Strip weed mo6t1y affecu ccuab.uch as nWu: and kguma 5IKb at cowpn in 1M rrslon. fumtn rquluIy kIM: 40 to 100 pc'rttnl of thdr crops. with loullosaa unountinS CO about bilI.on ofNain n'ttJ'JUI , and thataITcct tht IIvdihoods of many farJ'Mn in the region.
11'1;~ti~~~ BcUo M.ina pany.
Produce:n and RWly
arown
Fumns
had adopled many , tntepa;
in figbUDI the weed but to no 1M as the WlICM weed keqK b.:k ynr.na yeu, b«.uw the ~ behaves dlffW!ntly from other known wudJ lib. nmplfc, the peN MKks and dnuru IU hoM of Wlokr and VIral nutowU, 10 l tv pornt thai the mfested plant Wlthen and dics. Wlut makes SIMp much more deadly ,. 1M! II dou mott oj iU ~gc undft-pound. twn bc-fou ~rgml!.nd bc:Inl! mlbl~ 10
com,,,,
r"ffMn .bo..... lh~ soli $url"iIC~ By lhe lime lhe weed and 11$ leU-laic V10kt flowers "J'PC'U. It'. alrndy 100 W~ b«:aUK lhc:r~ IS not much tJql fillllnn"l can do 10 A~ their crop Stnp prodlKH hundrfds of tholDiWW of sccdJ peT plant. le"dm, 10 maHlVC budd up In tlw tOu ~I can ~n yW,k (Qr many yun To COniroilhis pvullK weed. f....men ("()mmonly UK Culluni medlOds and posl -emergcD« hcrbaddcs. which uc IarJdr mcffectm in proIectinl lhe crop u mOiliI of the dwl.iize has already bftn done bdow underground. Although • this nuy pnmdc $01IlC relief apiJlJl Strip. the habK:kia ar~ nonselective. and are 100 cos;tly.nd UlUIv.al.b.blc (or molt farm ~n to UK m the long run_ For ynrs tlw Sub-Saharan farmen W!:re icft 10 WIr own flu, bar.lIlltJ With th~ weed lo ..ve Lhctr cl'Opl (rom it , but 10 noaV1lil
MabIn AU Rurwn • S J ~ old &.nner 10caJ goycrnrncnt o( Kana JUtc "illed thai the ~IUC plant hIS bun hampcnngproductlvity forqwtc iI ionltutlC Wllhou t JtnowinaCDCLfywhat do AaordmB 10 hun lOme of the farmers wcr~ foreN to .bandon theIT rum lands and bonow liInds that Il~ (rtt (rom Slnp in Rurum Bcbcji
'0
'ow...
· For mrs . we hiln been battlml WIth the strip weed, Ind for all these yean it hilS bun ~r mgh tmare.. It 1lI mdcftl very Ad 10 $CC • Stns. weed in your (ann, bKausc wtw il mans is there 1$ oothins for you that yur No mailer how hard I unncr tna when the wt'ed affects your fann II mnns you II'l! doomed, therefore II became VttY necClS&l')' for a Wmcr 10
UniVttSity. Seed ComJirlw Setd
other private
KetOf
local ~m -
yar on, the outpull of the I't4OYOS SAN! IIlMtATAJiIGIo ISMA proJCC1 han bun cncOUl1lglrlJ. AYC: his aop from being coruumcd by God iUlSWH~ the hnncn pl1l)'ttl 1bc project worked Wrtb 100 commuruthe witchct weed. A (ilon yickl lhat can in 20 11 when. privolte public partner- tiel in Strip hotspots LD Kano and Dluchi. 5hlp cOOfdlnaJed by the Stiles and atablished SOO on -fum dem· product'S tow of pM lntcmalional lnullute orulntions of IIDpfO\-ed ~ nWu. will end up producmg of TropKai ASllcul-- and .aybcan ~ lions With Stop few bi.lgs of gtain If the Wt'Cd illt.cUd the r-.rm; lure (lITA), launched managcmt'nl technoaoaicJ. a colbOOrallye efTon Rurum narrated. he profcd has trained lOme J,SOO known u the I nt~ Siml""ly. another No matter how Strip Muuogcmcnt In f.m nen on poup dyniIntks. parf",mer Abdu Usman of tktpatOfT -apprOKbcs. modem ThdunWilwn DanbcW hard a farmer tries (ISMA) proj«<. to devclop a pac:bgc o( crop managemen t, and Stnga control Aid ~ery ynr he hoW to mm atnl budgrtt when the weed Stnp conlrol optlOllJ ~ticH in Nordmn Nigeria_ In addi on figbungStrip. he for smallholder hnncn tkln., the protect bu abo dlstcmmilted affects you r fa rm m Kenya.nd NISCfU. added that non -aV&11a Strip m&nascmcnt trchn~ to about blhty o( mca)ulft thai The proJ«1 IS funded 38,000 Nlgcmn farmers through fanner it m eans you are by the Bill & h.-tdinch to-&.nner knowicdge tr-.ru(t'r. on Wm would tKtJc the mcRike of the wud hal hem I doomed. Gala FouIKbLion and dcmonstnttOrU, fJdd days,1Dd ndio In an twnt 10 showasc tcchnolopa IS heins impkrnmled con.Clnt toUfCeo/ worry 10 hun and other (arm in pan nersiup WIth the for coni rolli ng Sln p. Includmg maize International Mane and WhQt Improve- toybcan rOCation., Strip rcsUt<ilJl1 nwu. en around the area. I I ~ added lhat WIth lirip m lhe fum lands c.ach ~~, h;u. ment Cenler (CIMMYIl, InternatIOnal and apphcauon of fcnlhzer If lUdun vat is bund to reduce S/.gnifKat\tly ·We Centre of IJUCCt Physiology and f..coI~ wada local sovnnmcnt of Kino State a OSY (Klpc), among others. The lOur-year projecl fonucs on tmrrovmg ICCCU 10 Stnp control tolutioru lhat lndudc usi.nl Scrip-resIStant maize and cowpea variet ies, dcployin, a ~pwh puU' lechnology thai Involva intercropping ccnals With sprd6c Strip,suppt'csung fOJ'ale q urnes. usinl rnaru varieties ruUtant to Strip and whk:ta kills lhe Strip teed u it gttmlnata and before il can ClIUJC any dwl.iigc. mcow-aginJ m.a.lu-1cJurnc inter.~~:.~~: uopplnl and crop rotation; and adoptmJ hb gf1ltltude for the new t. va mpira weed StrlgA. Slrlgii bioc:onlrollechnologict. A .lpiR- Introducod. II'l! thmking ofhowto tadJc this vampire canl componmt olthc ISMA profcct is the BioIo&kaI Control Spec:wbt with IrrADr bd'orc it S&KCftds in pushlns W OUI ofow kScnuflCalioa olbcsi ·bet combinatiolu of Abudgulm E:J.zd!I.. abt ed tb.t amonl the hmu. the anibb&c Stop control options lOr Ipc' Icchnologia adopted in conlJOllmg Slnp dOc.tOC~ largellng. weed the re is a biocontrolt«bnology, • produc~ over 300 b... gs of nwze every I'ht' suite of Integrat~ Senga control novel techno&osf that WoeS I soU boflW' ~ ,and I know many tholt produce intervcntionJ hems promoted by ISMA fungal. pathoscn thai II host spcofK to more dun I produce. but tIM: lHue of wiD BC'ncnie aD estlmaled USSI II million Strip to lull the Strip Wftd as it cmc-rgcs. thlll ,tubborn weed hilS bun threateni", wonh of ma.iu and cowpn gTI-In anmWly hrmcn haw shown their II1IIItode our wstence as (armers Its unkluc """y in projcd SdCJ in Kenya and Nlgena..- Airs .nd apprccbltion to aU uakcholdcn In of Ittaclt is what Q: UJually cnpplms us at Mel OIuocb. 15MA pro;ect nvnacn -W~ the fomlUbooll$ 0/ that' trchnkjucs that flltIlCfl, it will not show iu self to you until II'l! abo ophnuslK that the mlcrvmnons will ~ru;un a loW CBdJcatioft of tbe Y10kt it Iw done cnouJb dam.gc 10 your crop wtlllcad to 50 percenl mor~ )'It'k1. m maiu Y'AfflplfC wtflI from their farm lanch. We luve bct.n praying for God. m terwn~ lind more than double the CGWpcil harvnt For ynrs. they have bun batthn& With tion IIUO our pliaht. tholt Iw bct:n our in Slnp. lnfaled ifni,. About 250.000 the problem. and illWt they can Imik and pfilyttS fOf" ynrs." sadi Usrnan fumen will directly benefit from tJv Ay BOOd nddiIncc 10 the b.d Itrip Wftd..
• Gowmmen t offidlls ~nd offidlls of the lnstltut. s u ~.ling ~ demorut f1ltion pI~nQtion In Rurum.
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