Ploughs, hoes and cheap herbicides beat weeds in cotton. Validated RNRRS Output.
Abstract
This is one of 280 summaries describing key outputs from the projects run by DFID's 10-year Renewable Natural Resources Research Strategy (RNRRS) programmes.
Summary for Project titles: R7474: Weed management in cotton-based systems and R8191: Promoting improved crop establishment in semi-arid areas.
Smallholder cotton growers in Zimbabwe now use low-cost techniques to control weeds. In the Zambezi Valley, the rainy season is short and hot. If farmers don't weed promptly and thoroughly, they can lose nearly all their crop. Previously, controlling weeds needed lots of labour for constant weeding. In the Lower Zambezi Valley and South East Lowveld of Zimbabwe, farmers now beat weeds by ploughing before planting, hand hoeing and applying low-cost herbicides—techniques within their means and that save labour. Extension services now routinely advise farmers that this is a good way to deal with weeds and universities teach this system in their courses. Plus, inquiries from South Africa, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, Pakistan, Slovenia, Togo and Brazil are pouring in.
The CD has the following information for this output: Description, Validation, Current Situation, Current Promotion, Impacts On Poverty, Environmental Impact. Attached PDF (17 pp.) taken from the CD.
Citation
CPP67, New technologies, new processes, new policies: tried-and-tested and ready-to-use results from DFID-funded research, Research Into Use Programme, Aylesford, Kent, UK, ISBN 978-0-9552595-6-2, p 40.