The Cassava Weed Management Project which is managed by the
International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) is assisting African
researchers to gain new knowledge on advances in weed science by drawing the
expertise of United States researchers and their Nigerian counterparts thereby
putting alive the legacies of Charles Darwin and making him proud.
Launched in 2014, the IITA-Cassava Weed Management Project,
as part of its sustainability program, is building bridges across researchers
from developed and developing countries with a view to narrowing the knowledge
gap, by raising the capacity of weed scientists through training and knowledge
sharing.
The aim is to help Africa maximize the benefit of genetic
gain which has been hitherto stymied over the years because of poor crop
management among which poor weed control is a major factor.
This situation is exacerbated by low capacity and a lack of
the critical human resource to tackle weed problems, according to Prof Friday
Ekeleme, Principal Investigator for IITA Cassava Weed Management Project, who
also doubles as the President of the Nigeria Weed Science Society of Nigeria,
during the recently organized 3-day workshop on “Herbicide Action on Weeds and
Crops.”
The training, which provided the opportunity for the
participants to access latest information in weed science, covered wide range
of areas that explained the nature of herbicide, how it works, how it should be
used and the effect on weeds and crops.
Prof Stephen Weller, from the Purdue University, United
States of America (USA) while facilitating the session on “Herbicide Site of
Action”, stressed the effect of the environment on the use of herbicides while
adding that it was good to thoroughly read labels and understand the content of
herbicides before use.
On “Herbicide Absorption,” Prof Michael Owen, from the Iowa
State University, took time to analyse the area of herbicides’ absorption from
the soil and the factors affecting soil uptake such as relative humidity,
temperature, and light. He spoke on, “Adjuvants/Safeners and Herbicide
Metabolism in Plants”, and explained how safeners work. He also listed the
various classification and categories of adjuvants. Other areas he proffered
insights included herbicides resistance in weed management and best possible
options African researchers could take to avoid the occurrence of weed
resistance.
Prof Segun Lagoke, of the Federal University of Agriculture
Abeokuta, Nigeria, emphasized the need for weed identification as an important
step to any weed management control.
“Weed identification gives insight into the anatomy,
morphology, ontogeny, physiology and ecological distribution of weeds,” he
added.
The 3-day workshop, which ended 3 March 2016, enabled
participants to understand the requirements for effective herbicide application
in weed management and touched on a wide variety of areas in weed management
ranging from, plant anatomy and physiology, molecular biology, cell biology,
herbicide chemistry, plant membranes and herbicide translocation, and soil
principles.
During his opening remarks, Project Leader of the IITA
Cassava Weed Management Project, Dr Alfred Dixon said the training was
particularly designed to offer weed scientists access to globally current
information in the field of weed management.
He encouraged participants to apply lessons learnt to their
research work in universities, research institutes, the Agricultural
Development Programs (ADPs) and also to disseminate the information to farmers
on the field. “This will ensure sustainability and applicability of the
knowledge acquired,” he said.
At the end of the 3 days, participants expressed good
feedback on the quality of delivery by the resource persons as well as the
quality of training module contents used during the workshop.
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