Farmer turns deadly Striga to fodder, yields more milk

By Mangoa Mosota

This 5.5 feet tall farmer has for several years struggled to harvest maize from her quarter acre piece land.

Rosemary Auma, 45, has for many years harvested only a debe (about 20 kilos) of maize, an amount that can barely support herself, her spouse their three children.

“I used to harvest just one debe because most of the stalk were stunted and did not yield anything,” said Auma.

Her crops were affected by the parasitic Striga weed, locally known as Kayiongo. The weed has made maize growing in several parts of western Kenya a sad experience.

Technical training

However, two years ago, Auma and hundreds of other farmers in Siaya County received training on a technology to tackle the weed.

“My maize harvest in 2011 was a sack, yet the previous year it was merely a debe,” she says with a grin at her farm in Ohuru ‘A’ Village, Siaya County.

The farmer is a member of Ne Gi Wangi Women Group, which has 23 members.  Last year, she harvested one and half sacks.

 This year, she is expecting between two to three sacks. Auma has been able to get fodder to feed her two dairy goats.

“I milk about ten litres in day. And even with the current dry spell, I have sufficient feed for them,” she says. Auma also rears a cow that she milks for ten litres daily. Another member of the group, Alice Juma, 50, has also seen her yield dramatically improve after adaptation of the technology.

Mrs Juma, who hails from Kanyimbong Village has the same amount of acreage, as Auma. She has also seen a similar increase in her yields.

The two women are among 20, 000 farmers from Siaya and Vihiga Counties, who have benefitted from a technology to control striga. It was  developed by scientists at African Insect Science for Food and Health, the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe).

Control of the weed has led to food security in several parts of western Kenya.  Yields from maize have increased and farmers are now able to diversify. This has been through rearing of dairy cows and goats as they can easily access fodder.

Studies show that 76 per cent of farmland in western Kenya, which is about 210,000 hectares, is infested with the noxious weed.

The push-pull technology involves inter-cropping with a repellent plant such as desmodium. An attractive trap plant (pull) moves the weed towards it. In most cases the trap crop is nappier grass.

“The striga is repelled from the target crop, usually desmodium which also fixes nitrogen and assists in retention of moisture,” said Zeyaur Khan, an icipe scientist who is behind the innovation. Dr Khan said the technology allows farmers to venture into other farming as the crops used in the technology provide animal feed. There are more than 50, 000 farmers in East Africa who have adapted the technology, which is being funded by the EU with over Sh400 million for a three-year period.

During a visit to Siaya last week to see how the technology is working, EU Head of Delegation Lodewijk Briet said it was evident that control of the weed has led farmers in western Kenya to increase their yields.

“The key is to enable farmers increase their production, and this leads to food security,” said Mr Briet, adding that most of the affected farmers are smallholders.

Increased yields

Icipe Director General Christian Borgemeister said farmers were recording up to three to four times increase in yield.“Farmers who have adopted the technology are able to diversify their farming activities and improve their economic status,” said Prof Borgemeister.

Striga causes stunting and wilting and usually affects crops such as maize and sorghum. But the push-pull technology has been significant in halting it.

 It was developed by Khan at icipe in collaboration with a number of partners, among them the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute and Rothamsted Research in the UK.

The Agriculture ministry estimates that last year farmers harvested 38 million bags of maize. The county’s consumption stands at about 40 million bags.

Last year, the Government urged farmers to plant alternative crops after a disease- viral necrosis - drastically affected cultivation of maize in several parts of Central, Nyanza and Rift Valley Provinces.