{{In Kenya, maize farmers are increasingly abandoning their crops following an attack by a deadly disease (maize lethal necrosis) that has ravaged the crop in various zones, raising concern over food supply in the short run.}}
More than 160,000 bags of maize on more than 10,000 hectares in Kenya’s South Rift Valley have been damaged by the disease, which has spread fast to the North Rift, Central, and Eastern Kenya, raising concern over the next season’s crop and national food security.
The disease destroys cells, hindering crop maturity of the popular H614 variety that nearly 80% of farmers have adopted.
“We have stopped planting maize for the past three months. Every maize plant dies and this has caused panic in Narok and surrounding areas,” said Hugo Wood, a Narok farmer.
Wood said that some 50,000 tonnes of the Olerai 46 variety, sourced from Narok, which was undergoing breeding were rejected by Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Services (Kephis) raising fears that the disease could be seed-based and not viral as earlier reported by researchers.
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