International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan and Bayer Nigeria Ltd. have developed a new crop protection product to help farmers tackle problem of weeds in cassava and improve yield.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the herbicide is known as ‘Lagon’.
Speaking at the product launch on Tuesday in Ibadan, Bayer Country Sales Manager in Nigeria, Mr Temitope Banjo, said that the product had been subjected to more than 200 trials and demos in Nigeria and Tanzania.
He said that Lagon was rated among the top best pre-emergence herbicide for control of both grasses and broad-leaf weeds in cassava.
“The launch of Lagon today aims to provide big relief to cassava farmers. These are exciting times for the farmers, as they need not to worry about weeds anymore,” he said.
According to him, weeds have remained a major challenge to increased cassava productivity in Nigeria and Africa in general, with women spending about 500 hours annually to keep a hectare of cassava weed-free, using hoes.
He added that the manual method of weed control compromised the health of resource-constrained farmers, while, in some cases, children were pulled out of school to support weeding.
“When left uncontrolled, weeds compete for water, nutrients and space with cassava and depress yield by 40-90 per cent.
“To tackle the menace of weeds, IITA managed the Cassava Weed Management Project, and in the last eight years, screened more than 40 pre-emergence herbicides, both on-station and on-farm.
“The trials and subsequent demonstrations were conducted in Abia, Benue, Ogun and Oyo states in Nigeria, and in Tanzania.
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“Across the four states, representing the key agro-ecological zones that predominantly grow cassava in Nigeria, yields of cassava from Lagon-treated fields were more than double the national average and above 20 tons per hectare.
“Furthermore, cassava plants treated with Lagon were more vigorous compared to those on the fields where the product was not used,” he said.
Also speaking, Dr Alfred Dixon, Director for Development and Delivery, IITA, said that the Cassava Weed Management Project team conducted residue analysis on the leaves, stems and roots of cassava.
“The residue analysis provided negative results, meaning that Lagon is safe to be applied on field crops, particularly cassava,” Dixon said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that farmers, who used Lagon, commended the pre-emergence herbicide for its efficacy.
According to Mrs Chichi Ngufan, the use of Lagon on farmers’ fields is doing wonders and helping farmers to increase their yields and profits.
Ngufan, who is a cassava commercial seed producer, said that the use of the herbicide had helped her group to increase the size of their cassava farm in Benue.
“This is possible because we now manage weeds in cassava better with Lagon. Farmers can now save more on the cost of weeding,” she said.
Ngufan, however, called on government to make the herbicide available so that more farmers could have access it and make more returns from growing cassava.
