Water weed back

RIVER Kagera in Uganda is spewing 0.8 hectares of the water hyacinth into Lake Victoria daily, reports David Ochami in Nairobi. A study by experts at the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute, KARI, revealed that the weed has re-emerged on the lake. The studies blame this on pollution of the lake. Dr Gerald Ochiel, a researcher with KARI, said in Kisumu on Sunday evening that pollution from agro-chemical plants and nutrient deposits from catchment areas "have provided a rich environment for germination and fast multiplication of the weed." "We are also experiencing germination of the weeds' seeds deposited in the lake," Ochiel said many of the dumping activities contributing to this phemomenon occur around River Kagera. "The weed is entering the lake through River Kagera in Uganda at a rate of 0.8 hectares each day," he said. Lake Victoria is shared by the three East African nations. Most of it belongs to Uganda and Tanzania with only a tiny gulf jutting into Kenya. But Kenya has suffered most from the effects of the hyacinth which has often choked the harbour at Kisumu and hampered the fishing industry there. In the past the three nations have not found a formula to jointly destroy the weed. Ends