The Toothpick Project: commercialization of a virulence-selected fungal bioherbicide for Striga hermonthica (witchweed) biocontrol in Kenya.

The high-level view of global food systems identifies three all-encompassing barriers to the adoption of food systems solutions: knowledge, policy, and finance. These barriers, and the siloed characteristics of each of these, have hindered the development and adoption of microbial herbicides. How knowledge, policy, and finance are related to the Toothpick Project's path of commercializing a new bioherbicide, early in the scope of the industry, is discussed here.

A microbial bioherbicide for Striga hermonthica control: production, development, and effectiveness of a seed coating agent.

Witchweed (Striga hermonthica), also called striga, is a parasitic weed that causes high yield losses in maize on more than 200 000 ha in Kenya alone. A new commercial, biological herbicide developed in Kenya is able to control striga effectively. The product was approved for use by the Pest Control Products Board in Kenya in September, 2021.

Pre-harvest management is a critical practice for minimizing aflatoxin contamination of maize.

Maize, the main dietary staple in Kenya, is one of the crops most susceptible to contamination by aflatoxin. To understand sources of aflatoxin contamination for home grown maize, we collected 789 maize samples from smallholder farmers' fields in Eastern and South Western, two regions in Kenya representing high and low aflatoxin risk areas, respectively, and determined aflatoxin B (AFB) using ELISA with specific polyclonal antibodies. AFB was detected in 274 of the 416 samples from Eastern Kenya at levels between 0.

Striga Biocontrol on a Toothpick: A Readily Deployable and Inexpensive Method for Smallholder Farmers.

Striga hermonthica (witchweed) is a parasitic weed that attacks and significantly reduces the yields of maize, sorghum, millet, and sugarcane throughout sub-Saharan Africa. Low cost management methods such as hand weeding, short crop rotations, trap cropping, or conventional biocontrol have not been effective. Likewise, Striga-tolerant or herbicide-resistant maize cultivars are higher yielding, but are often beyond the economic means of sustenance farmers.