A Primer on Planting and Managing 'Push‑Pull' Fields for Stemborer ...

Striga flowerFigure 8. Striga weed attached to maize rootsTaking into account the peculiar nature of striga seeds, farmersare advised to control it before the weed emerges above thesoil. The reason for this is that by the time it emerges, much ofthe damage to the maize will have been caused.Although various control methods have been proposed, theyare usually not successful. For example, although manualremoval of the striga reduces re-infestation, it is considereduneconomical since most damage is done even before theweed emerges. Therefore, any control strategy has to beginwithin the soil.8