Researchers working to establish weed management interventions at Dawhenya Rice Production Enclave

The Crops Research Institute of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR-CRI) is establishing experimental fields to develop appropriate weed management interventions for some weeds believed to be impeding growth and development of rice in the Dawhenya Irrigation Scheme Rice Production Enclave (K Rice Belt).

The five weeds, (four grass species and one sedge) of great economic concern to rice growers are Echinochloa Spp. (Ashaiman Killer), Leptochloa Spp. (Black Jelly), Urochloa Spp. (Aguda), Ischaemum rugosum (Ogo), and Cyperus Spp. (Atadwe).

Economically, these weeds directly cause reduction in rice yields through competition, harbour rice pests and diseases, increase the cost of weed control and invariably rice production cost, as well as interfere with other field activities (spraying, harvesting etc.).

There are also indirect environmental consequences because their presence has increased the frequency of herbicide applications on the rice fields during production.

The establishment of experimental fields is part of the Integrated Weed Management Project in Rice Production – a CSIR-CRI initiative with financial support from the Korea Programme on International Agriculture (KOPIA), a South Korean initiative by the Rural Development Administration (RDA).

Dr Stephen Arthur and Dr Grace Bolfrey-Arku, both Weed Scientists at the CSIR-CRI, who are the Project’s Principal Investigators, explain that the identification of weeds of economic importance to enable the development of appropriate weed management interventions for sustainable rice production, was one of the key objectives.

The scientists had therefore engaged with farmers and monitored rice fields in the enclave to better sample the behaviour of these weeds and the documented information would be crucial in the development, targeting and timing of weed management strategies.

Dr Arthur indicated that the reasons assigned for the weeds ranking were more on the difficulty of control either chemically or manually, and their fast growth.

Field monitoring activities in the major season of 2025 and the dynamics of density change across the various rice growth stages, also confirmed the widespread of these weed species.

Source: GNA

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