Plant health

By Abigail Rumsey: The flowers might look pretty but Striga has affected millions of hectares of crops in Africa.
Striga hermonthica, or witchweed, is the main weed affecting many cereals including rice, maize, sorghum and millet. It is responsible for more crop loss in Africa than any other individual species of weed. Striga is a hemi-parasitic weed; its roots latch onto the roots of its host (e.g. a crop plant such as rice) and take water and nutrients from the host plant.

First report of new occurence of fungus disease by Consolatah Lucas from Mombasa, before the causal agent of the disease is identified, is not common practice. Esther Kimani, general manager of the Kenyan Plant Health Inspection Service said, that laboratory test results are still pending. The symptoms of the disease, which has been reported in Bomet County, 175 kilometers northwest of Nairobi, include leaf discoloration and wilting. It has a significant effect on yield of the crop, hence the cause of concern: 405 hectares of the crop in the southwest of Kenya is destroyed.