Bureaucratic chicanery should not slow down war on killer wild weed

Scientists call the plant by a now familiar name of ‘the carrot top and white top’ weed to identify it by its colours, as not many people would remember the Greek or Latin on which it is properly named. The weed not only harms animals that consume it, but it also leaves the land it spreads more or less useless, for it stays in the soil for at least two years, which is easy as it rapidly multiplies.

What has been leading to anxiety among a number of observers is a difference of tone among major organisations concerned with both research and agriculture or wildlife, as to how much there is a threat from that weed. The African Wildlife Foundation was clear in statement to that the presence of the weed has to be declared a national disaster, and work be engaged to counter its spread. That position was boosted by a principal agricultural research officer at the Tengeru Horticultural and Training Institute who said that the matter was already getting out of hand. Top officials at the Tanzania Pesticides Research Institute denied it was disastrous.

Admittedly scientific work has paths and contrivances in estimating the significance of a problem, but it is evident that there is a psychological aspect, where the clear urgency is felt by those having to protect wildlife from harm, and even those engaged in overall agricultural research. But those working on pesticides, with the luxury of a longer term perspective as to when they could think of putting up such pesticide, say they aren’t on hurry, which is fair enough. TRPI doesn’t produce pesticides for the proper feeding of wild animals, or does it?

Researchers say that there is a ray of hope in the quick application of a species of beetles from South Africa, with one such insect being capable of consuming an entire killer weed, hopefully on one day. They say that their colleagues have noticed how the beetles have enabled South Africa, Australia and Ethiopia to control the killer weed, which means the problem is already widespread such that plenty of research has been. That includes work to identify natural predators of the weed, that is, any insect species which feed on it – as animal species are weaker in toxico-biological terms to provide answers in such situations, firstly.

As animals have already started dying out in various game reserves or national parks as AWF explains, and that the threat to domestic animals and thus to the national economy is vivid as the spread of the killer weed is getting out control as Dr Stephen Sebastian Kowoko at Tengeru remarked, there is no point dilly dallying on the matter. While President Dr John Magufuli was entirely right in directing district and regional authorities to purchase pesticides from the Kibaha factory premises for controlling malaria propagation in their respective areas, it is just plausible to get more of those beetles first. Malaria kills; the weed kills faster.

To say that the situation is a national disaster isn’t to exaggerate but to caution that we don’t have to wait for the body count first of cattle and then of human beings, apart from wildlife, to start working at full speed on the problem. The disastrous situation is chiefly being noticed among wildlife where biodiversity is higher than in agricultural lands, and this too is a reason for disquiet as animals have different feeding habits and nutritional levels from plants, a typical case of wild humour being panda, feeding from soft bamboo leaves only. In that there is no time to lose; the beetles ought to be imported and spread over rapidly while it is early.