Notes to broadcasters
Save and edit this resource as a Word document.
Women farmers in your audience will be particularly interested in the following program about the management of striga weed (Striga spp.). Weeding striga is one of the most time-consuming activities attended to by millions of African women.
One important method of striga control is hand pulling. However, because the seeds of striga are so small, they spread and re-seed easily. Effective control of striga can only happen if farmers understand how striga reproduces and spreads. This script discusses the importance of hand pulling and removing weeds carefully from the field – in order to minimize the chance of spreading the seeds. Be sure to air this program at a time when women are most likely to be tuning in. Substitute the local name for striga weed where appropriate.
Script
Characters:
Program Host
Two women farmers
Host:
Many farmers listening today… especially women… will be interested in our discussion about how to manage the weed striga. Striga is also known as witchweed. It causes serious damage to maize, millet, sorghum, upland rice and Napier by sucking water and nutrients out of the plant roots. And farmers spend a great deal of time pulling the weeds from their fields. But if you learn about the best methods for controlling striga, you might not have to spend so much time weeding. Keep listening for more information…
MUSICAL INTERLUDE (3 seconds).
Woman Farmer 1:
Hello my friend. What a surprise! I haven’t seen you for so long… I was starting to worry…
Woman Farmer 2:
Oh! There’s nothing to worry about. It’s only that I have so little time to get out these days. My sister’s children are living with me now. And at this time of year, there is so much weeding to be done! Sometimes I feel I spend my whole day pulling striga weed from my maize fields!
Woman Farmer 1:
[
groaning] Ohhh! I understand that. Striga weed is a terrible thing!
Woman Farmer 2:
Then, you have the same problem?
Woman Farmer 1:
I used to have that problem. But not any more. I learned some ways to stop that nasty weed from spreading. Don’t you remember when the extension agent came here to talk to us about controlling striga?
Woman Farmer 2:
Yes. And I did follow his advice. But still… the weeds are everywhere.
Woman Farmer 1:
Hmmm. Well, I could tell you something about what I am doing. But why don’t you first tell me what techniques you are using.
Woman Farmer 2:
I pull out the striga weeds… by hand… and later I burn them.
Woman Farmer 1:
Hand weeding is good… very important. But what do you do with the weeds, after you pull them, and before you burn them?
Woman Farmer 2:
I lay them in the rows between the maize.
Woman Farmer 1:
Aha! I think that might be your first problem. When you lay the plant between the rows, all the tiny little seeds fall off the plant and onto the ground. Then next year they germinate, and then you have a bigger problem than before.
Woman Farmer 2:
Are you saying I shouldn’t pull the weeds?
Woman Farmer 1:
No that’s not what I’m saying – of course you must pull out the striga weed. But it’s best to pull it when you first see the flowers – before they have produced new seeds. If you pull the plants too early, they’ll start re-sprouting and you’ll have even more weeds in your field.
And pull carefully so the stem won’t break. But don’t lay it on the ground. After you’ve pulled it, immediately put it into a big plastic bag and remove the weed from the field. Take it away and burn it. If you lay it on the ground, all those tiny little seeds are going to fall onto the ground. And if you don’t put it into a plastic bag, the seeds will fall off as you carry it.
Woman Farmer 2:
I have to confess that I didn’t even see the seeds!
Woman Farmer 1:
I know… the seeds are so small that they are difficult to see. They’re as small as dust. But they are nasty, and that’s why you have to be so careful. They can lie dormant in the soil for many years. Then later – when you are not expecting it – the seeds germinate. They germinate when they are near the roots of crops they like to feed on, such as sorghum, millets, and maize. The striga seed has roots that grow underground and suck water and nutrients from the crop root. That’s why your maize, sorghum or millet withers and doesn’t produce well.
Woman Farmer 2:
Well I’m glad I ran into you today! From now on I will pull the weed carefully – and get rid of it immediately…
FADE IN MUSIC AND HOLD.
Host:
Hand weeding is one important part of controlling striga weed. Be sure to pull out the striga weed as soon as it starts flowering – before it can produce new seeds. This will stop the seeds from spreading all over your fields. Pull carefully to avoid breaking the stem of the plant. Put the striga plants into a plastic bag, and remove and burn them immediately.
I should also mention that even if you follow all these steps to remove the striga weeds from your fields, you might still have weeds next season. That’s because striga seeds can lie dormant in the soil for several years before sprouting. So it’s very important to keep hand-pulling the weeds. If you stop weeding for even one season, you’ll have to start all over again.
And remember, hand pulling by itself is not enough to control this nasty weed. To really control striga it’s important to use a combination of methods including intercropping and crop rotation. It’s also important to fertilize the soil to keep plants healthy. A healthy plant is more able to resist the striga weed. We’ll talk about some of these methods in our program [tomorrow, next week, _________]. Thanks for tuning in today.
Acknowledgements
- Contributed by Jennifer Pittet, researcher/writer, Thornbury, Canada.
- Reviewed by Aad van Ast, Department of Plant Sciences, Crop and Weed Ecology Group, Wageningen University, Haarweg 333, 6709 RZ Wageningen, The Netherlands.
Information sources
- Macpherson, George. “Tackling weed with education.” The Farming World. Number 1815, Feb. 1994.
- Pittet, Jennifer. Combine controls to manage striga. Toronto: Developing Countries Farm Radio Network, 1994.
