Maize disease baffles experts, troubles farmers
Arusha. Farmers have appealed to the government to speed up a research that can provide a solution to a withering disease which faces maize plant scientifically known as Maize Lethal Necrosis Disease (MLND).
The disease, according to farmers, has greatly affected their crops.
Speaking on behalf of fellow farmers from Babati District, Magdalena Augustino, said information to deal with the problem they had been receiving from different agriculture experts was not working. They said as a result the disease has spread in large area.
She said this while receiving education on organic farming technology at the Nanenane show grounds in Arusha Region.
However, Kiteto District’s extension officer, Fraterine Joseph Mahoo, said the disease was still being researched, calling upon the farmers cultivating grain to uproot the affected plants quickly and destroy them.
He said the destruction of the affected plants would prevent the disease from spreading to other areas, especially during this time when the government was trying to find a solution.
