Agric Experts To Meet On Striga Root

Accra (GAR), July 11, - Agricultural policy makers in extension and research drawn from nine African countries will meet at Sogakope in the Volta Region to formulate a project on "Striga" , A press release isssued by the Africa Regional O ffice of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Accra said the meeting will be sponsored by the Global Integrated Pest Management (IPM) The participants would come from Ghana, Benin, Cameroon, Ethopia, The Gambia, Kenya, Mali, Nigeria and Tanzania. Striga generally known as witchweed is a serious pest which attacks crops including cowpea, maize, millet, rice, sorghum, sugarcane and teff inflicting losses of between three to seven billio The crops represent a major source of energy an d protein in the diets of people in the semi-arid tropics. The release said although considerable work has been done in controlling the pest, the methods need to be adapted to the various agro- ecological and socio-economic situations in different A It said due to inadequate farmer-extension-rese arch linkages, adoption of recommended control measures by small-scale farmers has been very low, despite good results at research stations, the