Don who wrestled devil’s weed and won

Prof Mathews Dida of Maseno University shows one of the three new maize varieties. Photo/JACOB OWITI

What you need to know:

  • Don’s 10-year bid to get rid of weed that denied him food as a child

He has unravelled the striga weed jigsaw puzzle that eats up to Sh6.7 billion worth of grain in Kenya.

But even the saying that still waters run deep cannot begin describe Prof Mathews Dida adequately. His simplicity hides his wealth of knowledge in the field of seed research — until he opens up to talk.

He has invented the wheel, at least in terms of dealing with the stubborn weed that is referred to as the devil’s weed in Western parts of the country.

Having worked at the Tech University of Texas in the US in the 1990s, he decided to return home 11 years ago with the sole mission of eliminating the weed that he said could consume almost all the maize crops in his mother’s farm when he was growing up.

“I did not have the comfort of enough food when growing up because more often than not, striga denied us a bumper harvest,” he told the Nation.

When he came of age, he resolved to take up agriculture as a profession to weed this menace out of shambas.

Independent trials

“I was persuaded at my early stages in school to take up agriculture with a clear objective of getting a solution to this weed,” he added.

His resolve has taken 10 years of patience in laboratories and trial fields to develop three hybrid maize varieties and one for finger millet at Maseno University.

Maseno EH10, EH11 and EH14 varieties of maize, which emit a natural chemical component that suppresses striga weed growth in maize plantations, are the sweet products of his toil that he says will positively change farming forever.

According to the researcher from Uyoma of Siaya County, the agriculture suffers close to Sh6.7 billion in losses as a result of striga weed infestation.

“Farmers invest so much into their shambas, but sadly, around Sh6.7 billion is eaten up by striga weed.”

When finally taken up together with other varieties, he says, Kenya can feed its East African neighbours.

Also developed is Maseno 60D, which is the code name of the finger millet seed which, the scientist said, is not only fast maturing, but is also suited for regions with low rainfall.

His research was partly funded to the tune of Sh1.7 million by the National Council for Science and Technology.

A farmer should expect at least 12 tonnes of millet per acre compared to the present one tonne or less.

He said that with all the trials by the Kenya plant health inspectorate pointing to their success, Agriculture Minister Sally Kosgei is set to launch it soon for commercial exploitation. They are also on display at the Kisumu Agricultural show that opens on Wednesday.

On average, Prof Dida said, these seeds have reduce maturity at between 20 to 50 days compared to those in the market.

“They flower in 60 days and mature in 80 days. This represents a reduction of from 125 to 80 days,” he observed.

Although the seeds can thrive in almost any part of the country, the don said that in the research, particular attention was given to the lowlands and Lake Victoria as well as the Coast, areas which receive relatively scarce rainfall.

A seed with such traits will be the first in East Africa and only comparable to similar developments in Nigeria and South Africa, where such seeds are available.

It took him two years to develop the millet seeds before the plant health inspectorate conducted independent trials.

The work on maize took a little longer as he had to cross-pollinate different seeds to obtain the superior breeds.

“Developing new seed variety is referred to as plant breeding and demands a lot of patience. This has taken 10 years to piece together,” he said.

Maseno University is registering a seed unit company to commercialise the new seeds.

Prof Dida, who also heads the university’s research section on seeds, said that they were open to partnership with established seed companies.