Tuberous cyperus is a weedy plant that can dominate agricultural crops after several years. It reproduces at high speed through shoots and tubers and can cause a yield loss of 8 % in maize at moderate tuber cyperus pressure. Eradication is considered laborious and costly as the shoots and tubers are hardy. Therefore, it is very important to recognise the weed correctly and at an early stage.
As a lot of plots are currently occupied by potatoes and/or coarse vegetables, this is going to be a problem to supply e.g. Greenyard with vegetables in the area. But also, farmers currently have land left over within their farms, which they will find difficult or impossible to fill in the future.
The project
The project rests on three pillars:
- Inventory of fields infected with tuber cyperus
- Preventing spread of tuber cyperus to non-infected plots
- Control of tubers and tuber cyperus plants present
Since tuber cyperus is now found not only in agricultural surfaces, but also in ditches, roadsides, gardens and other plantings, farmers, municipalities and citizens alike are the target audience of this project.
Inventory
We are currently fully engaged in the first step of the project: the inventory.
The aim of this first step is to stick a number on the total infected area. This final number will serve to put pressure on governments and pesticide manufacturers so that in the future the tubercyperus problem will be easier to control.
This requires the cooperation of agriculture and horticulture. Therefore, everyone is invited, without obligation, to share their knowledge about contaminated plots. This can be done completely anonymously as only the surface areas are significant anyway. Also, this information will never be exchanged or made public.
If you would like to participate in this project or have any other questions, you can always this form fill in.
You can also easily self-report contaminated plots anonymously via the Geopunt site.
This link explains step-by-step how to enter and forward your own placements via Geopoint.
