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The Challenge In much of rural Africa and the Middle East, people's dependence on land and water is immediate — they eat food grown with their own hands and drink water drawn from their own wells. So when the fields are exhausted and the wells run dry, suffering sets in quickly. This scenario is all too common, owing to the scarcity of water and arable land in these regions. The Middle East has run out of new sources of water to tap for its needs. In Africa, per capita food production has declined over the past decade. Human activity is at the root of these problems, contributing to desertification, pollution, and the inefficient use of water resources. At the same time, programs and policies developed to solve the problems fail because they seldom involve the affected people in their design or even take into account their needs, desires, and knowledge. People, land, and water: a combination that, if unchecked, can lead to environmental degradation and human deprivation. The Response The People, Land, and Water (PLaW) program initiative works to provide secure sources of food, water, and income for rural people in the Middle East and Africa. It does this by supporting research to learn how men and women access and use their land and water resources and to suggest improvements. The focus is on two key issues: soil productivity and water management. PLaW projects range from research on how Kenyan farmers can sustainably increase maize yields to policy development for the joint Israeli-Palestinian management of an important source of water. All of PLaW's activities concentrate on fragile ecosystems where problems are most acute, such as the highlands of East and Central Africa and the arid lands of the Middle East and North Africa. The PLaW program initiative capitalizes on IDRC's successful approach of bringing experts together with people who are directly affected by development problems. For example, a workshop in Uganda on the sustainable development of Lake Victoria brought together representatives of nongovernmental organizations, public and private organizations, international institutions, donors, and farming and fishing groups. Engaging people at the local level in research and examining problems from their perspective can determine the success and sustainability of development initiatives. People, land, and water: a formula for finding solutions. The Objectives To increase understanding of factors that enhance or damage land and water resources. To contribute to local and national polices that improve access to, and the availability and quality of, land and water resources. To develop and use communication strategies that promote participation in development initiatives. The Results Fields tests in Mali have shown the effectiveness of a fungus in killing Striga, a weed that accounts for 4.1 million tonnes in lost cereal yields each year. (Featured project) Israelis and Palestinians from a range of disciplines — including law, economics, and hydrology — have developed options for the joint management of the Mountain Aquifer, which provides about half of Israel's drinking water. Senior government officials will participate in research on simulated models of the management options. Workshop participants in Jordan analyzed how Islamic philosophy and practices influence water resource management in Muslim countries. The workshop, the first ever held on this subject, took place under the auspices of a newly established research network on water demand management by rural and urban dwellers in the Middle East and North Africa. A new research network is working in collaboration with communities to improve the local management of natural resources in Southern Africa. The Eastern and Central Africa Program in Agricultural Policy Analysis will incorporate grassroots information and promote community participation in the design and evaluation of agricultural policies.

	In the battle against Striga, a weed that ruins cereal crops in West Africa, biological weed control could prove to be a winner.
In Mali, researchers found that the fungus, Fusarium oxysporum suppressed the growth of the parasitic weed Striga by 54% to 90%.	Marie Ciotola set down her backpack and stooped down to pull up yet another plant, being careful to keep the soil clinging to its roots. The research associate from McGill University in Montreal was on a three-month swing through Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger. She was gathering plants and soil samples as part of a scientific detective hunt to control the spread of Striga, a weed that destroys cereal crops in Africa. Among the 250 organisms she isolated from her samples, she hoped to find an effective killer of the plant. Striga, also known as witchweed, is the curse of subsistence farmers. Parasitic by nature, Striga compensates for the lack of its own root system by penetrating the roots of other plants, diverting essential nutrients, and stunting their growth. Thriving in areas of poor soil and limited plant diversity, it infests an estimated two thirds of the 73 million hectares devoted to cereal crops in Africa such as corn, sorghum, millet, and rice. Many experts consider Striga to be the greatest obstacle to food production in Africa, with crop losses of up to 70% among subsistence farmers and estimated losses of US$7 billion each year. Herbicides that kill the weed are beyond the reach of farmers, as well as being harmful to their environment and their health. Natural substances, however, offer a safe, alternative method of control. The Biopesticide Research Laboratory at McGill, headed by Dr Alan Watson, conducts research in this area. In 1991, IDRC asked him to investigate such "biological warfare" against Striga. It was this initiative that saw Marie Ciotola go off to Africa.
In Africa, crop losses due to Striga push 4.1 million tonnes per year. Sorghum is especially hard hit.	Ciotola was looking for Striga plants that showed some sign of wilt or rot, which indicates the presence of a fungal pathogen in the soil. She isolated 250 organisms and selected several of the most promising to evaluate in the McGill laboratory. One gave consistently good results — Fusarium oxysporum. Not only did it attack the Striga plant but it also destroyed the seeds. In 1994, field tests in Mali produced spectacular results: 90% of the Striga plants were wiped out but cereal plants remained untouched. At harvest time, yields of sorghum doubled. Subsequent tests have confirmed Fusarium's effectiveness. The most recent data, from 1997, show that 84% of the Striga was eliminated from test plots. The field tests have been conducted in collaboration with Mali's Institut d'économie rurale. After these successes, the next challenge was to devise a way to produce the fungus locally in the form of an inoculant. Researchers first grew a Fusarium starter culture, which can be placed inside a small gelatin capsule. They found that traditional cooking pots can be sterilized over a fire and used to ferment a mixture of the starter culture and sorghum straw. The mixture is then dried and stored for up to several months. When planting season arrives, farmers can take the dried Fusarium down from the shelf and incorporate it with their seeds. Once the seeds are in the soil, the rain activates the inoculant. This ability to make the inoculant locally gives Fusarium a role beyond increasing food supplies. Roger MacLean, a graduate student working with Dr Watson, has suggested that its manufacture can give women in rural communities more economic and social power. MacLean conducted an extensive socioeconomic study of 100 farms and determined that women could produce Fusarium in small-scale cottage industries and sell it to farmers. The preparation of the dried fungus, involving cooking pots and boiling water, both fits into women's traditional sphere of work and provides a new source of income. In the process of trying to exorcise witchweed from farmers' fields, the introduction of Fusarium has shown how women's financial independence can complement the quest for food self-sufficiency. The production of the Fusarium is perceived as "women's work" because it involves the drawing and boiling of water. It could be a new source of income for women. Future Directions
The discovery of a biological control for Striga could help other African countries where the weed afflicts cereal crops, such as Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Nigeria, Sudan, and Togo.	The research team plans to continue field experiments with Fusarium and to involve farmers more actively in testing and data collection. Ideally, the testing will involve up to five villages and include the production of Fusarium by women. The researchers are also working toward the long-term goal of introducing Fusarium to other countries afflicted with Striga. PLaW is exploring the opportunity to create a network for research on water demand management in South Africa that builds on PLaW's success in developing such a network for the Middle East and North Africa. PLaW is also working to establish a Water Hyacinth Information Clearinghouse to help control this inland water weed that affects the livelihoods of millions of people in Africa and the Middle East. In 1999, the initiative will also undertake an extensive evaluation of its program and projects. Further Reading Reports webzine, "Fungus Fights Cereal Killer in Africa" Nayudamma Information Bank, "Controlling the Noxious Weed Striga" PLaW website