IITA expert showcase digital cassava weed management

The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) has released a digital cassava weed technology to enhance the productivity of cassava by farmers in Nigeria and entire Africa. This was contained in a statement made available to us Farm Farm News today 18, August, 2020.

Unveiling this new improved technology to the audience, IITA Digital Extension and Advisory Services specialist, Godwin Atser said that  the six steps to cassava weed management toolkit was a complete package that addressed all aspect of good  agricultural practices in cassava production, added that it has helped farmers to double their yield to more than 20 tons per hectare from the current national nine tons level.

 The toolkit, according to IITA Godwin will prescribe best practices in site selection, weed identifications, herbicides application, tillage operations, weed management, plant spacing, post-emergent weed management and cassava agronomy principles. The Six Steps have been fully integrated into a comprehensive digital advisory service for cassava, adding that the technology is already revolutionizing the art, science and practice of dissemination and agricultural extension services.

It was stated further that in view of covid 19 pandemic disease that “these digital tools for scaling the six steps can help us navigate through the challenges of COVID-19 since restrictions to free movement and human to human contact can be by-passed with the use of digital technology.”