Experts meet in Abuja to tackle Striga

Maize farm devastated by Striga

Researchers and partners working under the Integrated Striga Management in Africa (ISMA) project will converge on Hotel De Bently, Abuja, 21-23 May 2014 to review milestones reached and discuss strategies for moving forward in the battle against parasitic weed Striga. This weed attacks cereals and legumes and losses are in the neighborhood of $8bn, endangering the livelihoods of millions of farmers in sub-Saharan Africa.
The work planning meeting will evaluate the successes, challenges and opportunities of the ISMA project, identify gaps and plan how to implement the decisions so as to successfully scale out the Striga management technologies to rural farmers in the next coming year.  Over 70 participants are expected at this gathering and will include scientists from the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), CIMMYT, icipe, and other research institutes, project leaders from across Africa and beyond, partners in the public and private sectors, as well as farmers of cereal and legume crops.
ISMA Project Manager, Dr Mel Oluoch said the meeting would promote stronger linkages between project partners.

For media enquiries, contact: Ada Umeokoro, a.umeokor@cgiar.org; Kathy Lopez, k.lopez@cgiar.org; or Godwin Atser, g.atser@cgiar.org