Fungal disease is a common threat experienced by farmers in raising vegetables and other leafy plants. According to just4growers.com, an agri-solution platform, some of the common fungal diseases that affect plants are:

-Powdery mildew which appears like a greyish powder on either side of leaves, stems, fruits or flowers. It has the appearance of sprinkled powder on the plant.

While some plants are more susceptible to the disease than others, plants are in a higher risk when they are undergoing vegetative growth. In addition, plants exposed to high levels of Nitrogen during this stage are at a greater risk of powdery mildew.

-Botrytis, otherwise known as Botrytis blight or grey mould, is another fungal disease that can devastate both annuals and perennials. It may affect flower petals and buds causing them to decay and rot.

-Rust is a fungal disease which forms rust-orange pustules on the undersides of leaves.

Similarly, gardentech.com reports that in black spot disease, dark spots are seen on the upper sides of leaves and not on the undersides.

A point to note is that generally, fungal diseases thrive on weak plants under cool, damp, overcrowded and or water-logged conditions. This implies that they are more prevalent in greenhouses and indoor gardens.

As reported by Pennsylvania State University’s website, organic extracts that are used in control of powdery mildew include potassium bicarbonate, sulphur and potassium silicate, while organic extracts for the control of Botrytis are copper and potassium silicate.

Neem oil is also a good organic fungicide to use.

However, an easy proven way to prevent powdery mildew according to growjourney.com is making a mixture of milk (30 per cent) and water (70 per cent) and spraying it evenly on the leave surface of affected plants. This should be done during morning hours of a sunny day.

For inorganic control of fungal diseases, appropriate fungicides should be used.

Good management practices like use of resistant varieties, removal and destruction of all infected plants and good farm hygiene should be practiced.

Avoid splashing water on the leaves, as this can help spread rust.

Herdsmen-farmers clashes will get worse if…

Herdsmen and farmers’ clashes will be worse next year unless ranches are created, the Minister of Agriculture, Audu Ogbeh, has said.

Ogbeh was briefing State House reporters on Monday after a meeting of the National Food Security Council.

The minister also noted that the Federal Government could not afford to subsidise cattle rearing as done in Europe.

Asked what strategy the government was putting in place to end the farmers/herdsmen clashes, he said: “We’ve to move the cattle to the good old grazing reserves and we just have to create environment for them, clusters of ranches where they have water, grass and security against rustlers. For nearly 40 years, we didn’t do much about cattle, we also forgot that cattle contribute 6% to GDP.

“The cheapest way of rearing cattle is by roaming around with them as you see now. If you go into a ranch, it’s not cheap and government cannot subsidise cattle rearing like they do in Europe, where they subsidise every cow with €6 which is about N2,400. We cannot afford that.

“So, the thing is to create those ranches and the herdsmen are prepared to pay tax to support the programme. If we don’t do it, next year will be worse than this year I assure you.”