The Toothpick Project.

Striga hermonthica (witchweed) represents one of Africa's most devastating agricultural threats, a parasitic weed that has evolved an unusual lifecycle specifically designed to exploit staple crops. Unlike ordinary weeds that compete for resources, Striga operates as a parasite, directly extracting nutrients from the host crops, maize, sorghum, millet, and rice plants.

The weed's persistence stems from its extraordinary reproductive strategy. A single Striga plant produces up to 100,000 microscopic seeds that can remain dormant in soil for decades. These seeds only germinate when triggered by specific hormones released by host crops, ensuring the parasite emerges precisely when food is available. Once germinated, Striga attaches to crop roots and begins extracting water, nutrients, and carbohydrates, often inflicting up to 80% of the ultimate yield damage, and severe infestation can result in complete crop failure,  before the weed even becomes visible above ground.

The scale of devastation across sub-Saharan Africa is staggering. Fifty million hectares of croplands suffer from Striga infestation, causing over $9 billion in annual crop losses. In western Kenya alone, 340,000 hectares are affected, resulting in $53 million in yearly losses that represent 12.3% of the country's total maize production.

Climate change amplifies this crisis by creating drought conditions and soil degradation that favour Striga proliferation. As rainfall becomes more erratic and soils degrade, crops become more vulnerable while the Striga thrives. Meanwhile, traditional solutions fall short: chemical herbicides are prohibitively expensive for smallholder farmers, environmentally damaging, and increasingly ineffective as the weed develops resistance. For millions of farming families, Striga infestation can mean the difference between food security and hunger, making effective biocontrol not just an agricultural necessity but a humanitarian imperative.

GIF has provided The Toothpick Project with a $600,000 grant to support strategic expansion and evidence generation across four key objectives:

1. Regulatory expansion: Secure approvals in Tanzania to unlock East African Community's harmonised protocol, granting access to all member states, while establishing entry into Nigeria's market of 20+ million Striga-affected people.
2. Scientific evidence generation: Conduct rigorous multi-season studies to validate long-term Striga suppression effects and establish clear farmer guidance on treatment duration and economic returns.
3. Price optimisation: Develop pricing strategies that balance affordability for smallholder farmers with business sustainability, transitioning from high-touch distribution to cost-effective partnerships.
4. MEL infrastructure: Build comprehensive monitoring, evaluation, and learning systems to systematically capture impact data and customer insights essential for scaling.