Scientists scratch heads over viral maize disease threatening food production
What you need to know:
- Efforts to control the disease, lethal necrosis, which destroyed over 26,000 hectares of maize in the Rift Valley region in 2012, got complicated following revelations it spreads through the soil.
- The disease, which is also a threat to East Africa, is causing maize farmers losses worth millions of shillings.
- Dr Stephen Mugo of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre called on farmers to use certified seeds and practice crop rotation.
Researchers are currently scratching their heads in search of a solution to a maize disease that is threatening food production.
Efforts to control the disease, lethal necrosis, which destroyed over 26,000 hectares of maize in the Rift Valley region in 2012, got complicated following revelations it spreads through the soil.
This was after the disease kept on reappearing despite interventions. Initially, it had been thought the disease, first detected in Bomet County in September 2011, only spread through seeds.
Researchers told the Nation it is difficult to control the disease, which causes up to 100 per cent crop losses in some cases, due to its mode of transmission. The disease causes discoloration of the crop.
They called for more studies even as the search for a solution continues.
The disease, which is also a threat to East Africa, is causing maize farmers losses worth millions of shillings.
Dr Eliud Kireger, acting director-general of Kenya Agricultural Livestock Research Organization (KARLO), called for awareness campaigns on the disease.
“Since the disease is proving difficult to deal with, we need to carry out more studies to understand how it’s spread. We are currently developing technologies that will help in detecting the virus and the vectors spreading the disease,” said Dr Kireger.
He said transmission of the virus through soil has made it hard to find a remedy.
Ms Regina Tende, a senior researcher at KARLO said: “We should move to crop diversification and crop rotation in the meantime. We are also venturing into use of chemicals to disrupt the cycle of insects that spread the disease.”
“It is unfortunate the disease caught us unawares. The only possible solution now is to develop seeds that are resistant to the disease,” Ms Tender said.
Dr Stephen Mugo of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre called on farmers to use certified seeds and practice crop rotation.
The disease was first reported in Peru in 1973. Latest findings indicate the virus could spread to Uganda and Tanzania, among other places. and DR Congo, South Sudan and Ethiopia.
