Category: Maize Farming

by AATF Africa Striga has been the main cause of hunger and by extension poverty in many households in Nyanza and western regions of Kenya. Many families have fought the weed popularly known as kayongo to no success by use of various methods such as uprooting the weed, use of manure and inorganic fertilisers. Ms Mebo Chebor […]

by AATF Africa If all arable land in Tanzania could be put under maize, the most preferred cereal staple, it would feed the entire East African region. The most astonishing fact is that over 600,000 hectares have been rendered useless by Striga weed, commonly referred to in Kiswahili as kiduha in the region. Striga weed is known to cause […]

by AATF Africa Vitalis Kwena Oduor is a small-scale farmer from Nyamwanga Village of Busia District in Western Kenya. He grows various crops including maize, beans, sorghum, cassava, ground nuts and sweet potatoes on his six acre piece of land. Vitalis’ farming experience dates back to 1978. Like any other farmers in the region, maize is […]

by AATF Africa Until 2007, Grace Lugongo, a young mother of four from Butula district in western Kenya had never known the meaning of harvesting a full sack of maize from her 1.25 acre piece of land thanks to the Striga weed popularly known as oluyongo in her local language. The weed had decimated maize farms to the […]

by AATF Africa The army worm infestation has affected more than 2,000 acres within the Busia sub county hitting hardest the poor subsistence farmers who fully depend on their farms. Charles is wondering if this problem hit him for choosing to go against his normal practice. Usually, he says, he would plant only an acre of […]

by J.Muthie Maize farming was becoming a source of major frustration for Ann Aloo, a smallholder farmer in Kisumu County of Kenya. For her, growing maize in the semi-arid western Kenya region has been hectic due to unpredictable weather and inaccessible climate-smart farm inputs. For a long time, the farmer says she could only harvest 135 […]

by AATF Africa Experts on Pesticide Registration from EAC Partners states of Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi gathered in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania from September 18 to 20 to finalize drafting of the Regionally Harmonized Guidelines for the Registration of Bio pesticides and Biocontrol Products. The three day technical working group meeting also brought together […]