By Edward Byamukama
The Kagadi district Senior Agricultural Officer Desire Mparana has urged farmers to apply mechanical weed control methods on their farms to contain the spread of the strange golden dodder weed that is indiscriminately overrunning crops leaving farmers hopeless of harvests.
According to the farmers, the weed botanically called Cuscuta campestris attacks coffee, jackfruit, cowpeas, compound flowers and other food crops.
The weed has neither stems nor leaves leaving affected farmers without knowledge of an appropriate measure to tackle it.
Speaking to Spice FM in his office at the Kagadi district headquarters, Mparana says the authorities are monitoring the weed whose invasion in the area is few months old now.
The agricultural expert reveals that the weed can affect a wider area since it is spread by wind and flowing water alongside physical movement involving human beings during human activities.
He says the weed has been common in urban areas of the central and western regions of Uganda. It is easily mistaken for ornaments since it produces a nice flower.
Mparana says the weed currently is resistant to herbicides emphasizing mechanical means to prevent its multiplication.
He says pulling the filaments that cover the soil by hand, drying it and finally burning is the first and reliable mechanical approach.
The second one is similarly pulling, collecting and burying it in an at least one metre feet hole.
The Agricultural Officer has also asked farmers to use the seasonal rains and grow enough crops for food security and income generation for their families.
