(31 Jan 2025)
HZ KENYA FUNGUS FOOD SECURITY
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
RESTRICTIONS SUMMARY:
LENGTH: 6:50
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Kakamega, Kenya – 12 January 2025
1. Wide of maize farm
2. Various of farm infested by striga weed, commonly known as witchweed
3. Various of striga weed
4. Various of John Indimuli, a farmer uprooting striga weed from his farm
5. SOUNDBITE (English) John Indimuli, farmer:
"The production I had been getting here was more than eight bags. But right now I can hardly get up to three bags. Even if you try to interchange the type of crop from maize and go to either sweet potatoes, it is just still the same."
6. Various of maize crop in farm
7. Various of striga weed
8. SOUNDBITE (English) John Indimuli, farmer:
"This weed is just like the monster you try to kill but it can never be killed. The more you try to kill it the more you create the problem. So the more you try to uproot this weed, the more it multiplies."
9. Wide Indimuli inspecting maize crop in his farm
10. SOUNDBITE (Kiswahili) John Indimuli, farmer:
"The size of this crop is so small that I can’t estimate how much I need to harvest to make a kilogram."
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Nairobi, Kenya – 21 January 2025
11. Wide of Micheal Njagi WFP productivity and climate resilience officer, walking
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Micheal Njagi, Productivity and Climate Resilience officer, at World Food Programme (WFP):
"Striga, also known as witch weed is a parasitic plant that affects the roots of most of the staples like maize and sorghum and when this happens it sucks the nutrients out of the crops. Basically sucking the life out of these plants. This leads to the plants being stunted, being weak, being small and they are not able to produce. A farmer can lose up to a hundred percent of their crop when Striga attacks."
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Kakamega, Kenya – 12 January 2025
13. Various of striga weed
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Nairobi, Kenya – 21 January 2025
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Micheal Njagi, Productivity and Climate Resilience officer, at World Food Programme (WFP)
"It is estimated that between thirty and forty million people are affected by this weed in the Sub-Saharan region and the loss caused by the weed is up the tune of seven billion US dollars."
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Kakamega, Kenya – 13 January 2025
15. Various of scientist in lab manufacturing the bioherbicide Kichawi Kill
16. SOUNDBITE (English) Loise Kioko, research scientist at The Toothpick Company
"Kichawi Kill is a bioherbicide made of a fungus and this fungus attaches to striga. Once it does, it clogs up the root system and hinders striga from retrieving nutrients or the water, making it wilt and die."
17. Various of Kioko in the lab
18. SOUNDBITE (English) Loise Kioko, research scientist at The Toothpick Company
"Biological control methods such as our bioherbicide Kichawi Kill are usually more preferred compared to chemical inputs because they are safe to the applicator. They do not affect animals. They also do not affect other crops other than the crop that they were targeted to attack. This makes them sustainable and ecologically safe."
19. Various of Kioko in the lab
20. SOUNDBITE (English) Loise Kioko, research scientist at The Toothpick Company
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Kakamega, Kenya – 12 January 2025
21. Various of Lawrence Mukhabana on his farm
22. Various of Mukhabana applying the Kichawi Kill bioherbicide to seeds
23. SOUNDBITE (Kiswahili) Lawrence Mukhabana, farmer:
24. Various of Lawrence Mukhabana on his farm
25. SOUNDBITE (Kiswahili) Lawrence Mukhabana, farmer:
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