Category: Striga Weed

by AATF Africa Every year, Striga damage to crops accounts for more than US$ 1 billion in yield loss in SSA, and affects the welfare and livelihoods of over 100 million people. In SSA, the weed infests some 20 million ha, while in Kenya alone, it is estimated that over 200,000 ha of land are infested […]

by AATF Africa “I gave them the worst Striga-infested portion of my land,” says Pastor Timothy Nyagol Ochiel, a farmer in Simbiri village in Rachuonyo, Nyanza Province, Kenya. “Now it is the most Striga-free part of my farm.” He pauses for a while and adds: “I have never seen a wonder seed like this that kills Striga. I never thought […]

by AATF Africa Christine Achieng Onyango hails from Nyabenge village of Maranda Division, Bondo District in western Kenya. She is a member of Kayongo Farmers Association, which is named after the Striga weed ‘kayongo’ in Dholuo dialect. The association comprises 20 members, two of them male. Its key aim is to eradicate Striga weed in the area. Christine is a small-scale farmer […]

by AATF Africa I am a geography and agriculture teacher at Sinyolo Secondary School and also a small-scale farmer in Kisumu North district, Nyahera division, Sidika village. I have about one and a quarter acres of land on which I grow maize, beans, groundnuts and bananas. I got to know about the StrigAway Imazapyr Resistant (IR) […]

by AATF Africa I come from Itando village in Chavakali division of Vihiga district in Western Kenya. I have been a farmer since 2003. I practice what you would call intensive farming. I grow a mixture of crops like avocado, sweet potatoes, various types of vegetable, beans and I also rear chicken, goats and cows. Land […]

by AATF Africa My name is Daniel Ochieng Teti and I am a small scale farmer in Kisumu North district in Kenya. I grow various food crops such as maize, beans and millet. Growing maize is my most important farming activity as it is my family’s main source of food as it is for most families […]

by AATF Africa Imagine investing in a venture and reaping nothing at the end of the day. This is the sad story of Monica Mbeya – a primary school teacher who has been watching desperately as her maize crop is ravaged by the notorious Striga weed. Monica like many other farmers in Kosele village, Rachuonyo district in Western […]

by AATF Africa Richard Amolo takes this writer around his farm. He just ploughed it in readiness for the short rains that were expected the previous week. Yes, the rains delayed. Amolo says he is afraid they may fail altogether.  But there’s one thing that no longer gives him sleepless nights -the Striga weed, known locally as Kayongo. He’s […]

by AATF Africa Busia is among the most fertile of Kenya’s 47 counties.  Its rich soils receive between 760mm and 2000mm of rainfall. “Most parts of the County have high potential for agriculture and promises of faster growth,” according to the Busia County Integrated Development Plan 2013-2017. Yet this frontier region lags behind in virtually all […]

by AATF Africa Tormented by unreliable rains and the destructive Striga weed, he was ready to try any crop that came his way. “When you are sick and you don’t know what ails you, you will take any concoction hoping that one of them will eventually cure you. In farming that is what I had been doing for […]