The Herbicide Resistance Action Committee (HRAC) recently held an emergency meeting in Paarl to address the increased occurrence of herbicide resistance in the Western and how it plans to tackle it.
HRAC chairperson Chris Cummings said herbicide resistance has become such a problem that it’s starting to threaten the sustainability of agriculture in the Cape. It has already resulted in some farmers having to uproot entire orchards and vineyards in an attempt to deal with herbicide-resistant weeds.
Prof Andy Cairns of the Department of Agronomy at the University of Stellenbosch said herbicide resistance in the province is believed to be of the worst in the world, with Tulbach having the first ryegrass resistant to both paraquat and glyphosates. The HRAC proposed that the entire agricultural industry – from fruit to grain to meat producers as well as secondary role-players – work together to address the escalating problem. One of the first steps will be to employ a person on a full-time basis to develop and drive a campaign and to coordinate research and disseminate information to relevant parties.
The group also undertook to temporarily coordinate more meetings to incorporate more role-players in the appointment of a permanent representative and to do a cost analysis of such a programme. Additional data will also be gathered in the meantime and be presented to the University of Stellenbosch and the Western Cape Department of Agriculture to see how these institutions can help to combat the problem through research and the dissemination of information concerning the problem. rof Cairns said hoping for the development of a new chemical product to control weeds is futile as the is far too insignificant in the herbicide market to motivate the development of such an expensive product. – Glenneis Erasmus
