Management of Weeds in Rice 15

A Weed Scientist at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research and the Savannah Agricultural Research Institute(CSIR-SARI) Michael Mawunya has revealed that proper land preparation is critical in weed management of rice fields. According to him, this will prevent the unnecessary competition of nutrient and moisture needs for plant growth. Rice is widely consumed as one of the most important staple food by most household. it also serves as source of employment to farmers in rural communities in the northern part of the country. Aside the high import dependance of the country on rice, rice experts believes the country has a lot of potential for the cultivation of rice, if the sector can be supported with improve seeds and technology. Since sector has over the years been confronted with challenges of weeds,which has widely being reported as the biological constraint to rice yields. Scientist have revealed that with advents of climate change challenges in the region weeds control has been worsen, to due to reduction in the rainfall pattern over the years. The chemical application on most weed have yield no fruitful results. A Weed scientist at SARI, Michael Mawunya in at interview with Viasat 1 news underlined some best practices for weed management. Mr. Mawunya further advised farmers to spray at the tender growth stage using post emergency herbicides spray to control the growth of weeds. Mr. Mawunya urged farmers to use improve drought tolerant seed varieties for rice cultivation. From Nyankpala, Noah Nash for Viasat 1 News