Over 25,900 cereal farmers are seeing an up to 95 per cent drop in cases of Striga/ witchweed thanks to Kenya’s first commercialised biological herbicide.
Striga is a parasitic weed that reduces maize, sorghum, millet, dryland rice, and sugarcane yields by 30 to 100 per cent. A combined striga and stemborer attack on maize sees a total wipeout of the crop. It is the most devastating weed in sub-Saharan Africa estimated to lose farmers seven billion dollars annually. According to the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF), Kenya is amongst the hardest hit country in the region with over 200,000 hectares infested with Striga. 90 per cent of this land is in Western and Nyanza provinces, where farmers lose 360,000 tons of crops estimated to be worth Sh9.3 billion.
When FarmbizAfrica interviewed the Toothpick Company– the makers of Kichawi Kill bioherbicide– in 2021 they had just finished running 12-year-long proof-of-concept tests of the witch killer. The tests which were run together with KALRO Katumani and Montana State University on 500 farms in Maseno showed that it increased the output of maize planted during the long rains by 50 per cent and that of maize planted in the short season by 40 per cent.
Three years on, the company works with 25,900 farmers farming on 10,600 acres in Bungoma, Kakamega, Siaya, Migori, Busia, Homabay, and Kisii Counties.
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According to Nickson Wafula– a government extension officer– Striga which is referred to as Kayongo by the Luo spreads quickly and is difficult to get rid of because it produces up to 500,000 small seeds which can remain dormant in the soil for 15 years regardless of weather conditions before being awakened the minute farmers grow cereal maize or sorghum.
“Even burning the weed will not get rid of it. While its growth habit of emerging right after week three when farmers have weeded their maize makes it difficult to weed out,” he explained.
Glyphosates which are the most effective chemical herbicides for striga control are non-selective meaning they burn every plant they contact which makes them hard to use in targeting striga which wraps itself to its host.
This has meant farmers have often been forced to manually weed and burn the weed. This is however often futile long term because of the weed’s ability to produce thousands of seeds that cannot be destroyed by fire.
According to Paul Woomer, of the AATF Striga Management Project in Kenya, Kenyan agriculturists had recommended to farmers the improvement of their soil’s fertility, weeding, and maintaining field sanitation as ways of getting rid of striga. This has however proven to be useless in getting rid of the weed once it starts to grow in farms as its severity in the country has only increased.
“Depending on the amount of striga seeds on your farm, growers who use Kichawi Kill see a 37-42 per cent reduction in the amount of striga on their farm in their first season of farming. In the second season this jumps up to 70-80 per cent and 90-95 per cent in the fourth season,” the company informed.
Also, depending on the striga seed bank on a farm a fifth application of Kichawi Kill might be required.
Farmers can purchase the bioherbicide from agrovets and village distributors in the aforementioned counties. Toothpick has also partnered with companies that work directly with smallholder farmers in East Africa, One Acre Fund and Apollo Agriculture, to distribute Kichawi Kill to farmers.
Two thousand shillings of Kichawi Kill treats ten kilograms of maize seed which is the recommended seeding for an acre. Treatment for five kilograms of maize costs Sh1,000 while one packet of maize seed costs Sh400 to treat.
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16 grams of Kichawi Kill is mixed in 40 milliliters of water to form a paste in which two kilograms of seed is soaked in. Once the seeds are completely coated in the mixture they are dried on a clean surface under shade for 15 minutes. The seeds are now good to plant.
Kichawi Kill which is registered by the Pest Control Products Board under both the Toothpick Company and the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organisation is looking to expand into Uganda where it has held trials this season as well as to Ethiopia, Ghana, and Cameroon
Toothpick Company Limited: 0793 600701
Photo Courtesy: Toothpick Company Limited