Abstract
Rice in the recent past has picked up as a food security and income generating crop among farming households in Uganda. Even though, the crop is playing a significant role in reducing food insecurity and poverty within the country, its productivity has remained constant and low at about 1.5 metric tonnes per hectare. Using cross-sectional data collected from rice farmers in Northern (Lira, Dokolo, Otuke and Alebtong Districts); Eastern (Iganga, Bugiri and Kamuli Districts) and Central (Kayunga District) regions of the country, this paper establishes farmers’ knowledge and management of rice diseases from a total of 224 farmers, as a baseline for research initiatives focusing on improving rice productivity within the country. Farmers ranked diseases as the second most important constraint in rice production, after insect pests. Moreover, farmers ranked rice yellow mottle virus (RYMV) as the most important disease in rice production, followed by leaf blast (LB), brown spot (BS), sheath rot (ShR), panicle blast (PB) and bacterial leaf blight (BLB). However, 60% of farmers identified RYMV while less than 30% could clearly diagnose the symptoms of each of the other diseases. Surprisingly, only about 18% of farmers employed management options against RYMV, whereas less than 6% practiced some form of management for each of the other major diseases. The predominant disease control measure was uprooting diseased plants followed by insecticide application. About 10% of farmers reported sedges (Cyperus spp.), goat weed (Ageratum conyzoides), black jack (Bidens pilosa), and cut grass (Leersia spp.) as alternative host plants for rice diseases. An integrated disease management approach, whose development and implementation recognizes farmers as the key players in the rice production chain, is required to achieve improved and sustainable rice productivity.
Highlights
Rice crop is attacked by a number of diseases, some of which cause serious economic losses while others are of minor importance (Mississippi State University, 2001)
The study is based on cross-sectional data that was collected through a household survey conducted from
The member that was most involved in rice production was sought and interviewed using a semi-structured questionnaire that was developed by a multi-disciplinary team comprising of Breeders, Entomologists, Agronomists and Socio-economists
Summary
Rice crop is attacked by a number of diseases, some of which cause serious economic losses while others are of minor importance (Mississippi State University, 2001). The diseases are caused by various pathogens such as viruses, bacteria, fungi, nematodes (Safdar, Salahuddin, & Chaudhary, 1993). These pathogens may appear at any growth stage and or on part of the plant, including the seed, root system, foliage, stalk, leaf sheath, inflorescence and the grain (Government of Sindh—Agriculture Department, 2004). Like other rice growing countries, has made advances in the development of disease resistant rice varieties. The impact of diseases on rice production has increased over time. This is because there are limitations in the usage of only resistant varieties to manage rice diseases. The rice production environments, in the tropics, are habitats of many rice pathogens causing varying degrees of damage (Mew, 1992)
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