Status of water hyacinth infestation and control in River Kagera

During a regional workshop held in Mukono, Uganda (May 2001) by scientists and technocrats from Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, working on water hyacinth management under the Lake Victoria Environmental Management Project (LVEMP), it was resolved that a survey of River Kagera be made to study the status of water hyacinth infestation and biological control in the river. Reports at the Mukono Workshop indicated that although Tanzania and Uganda had made serious effort to introduced biological control weevils (Neochefina eichhorniae and Neochetina brucht) on the weed in River Kagera, the level of establishment of biological control in the river was doubtful. Large quantities of water hyacinth biomass drifted down River Kagera into Lake Victoria daily. Similar reports of apparent inability of biological control weevils to fully establish and have effect on water hyacinth in River Nile, especially the Upper Victoria Nile, were also made by Uganda, and large quantities of weed biomass continuously drifted down the Upper Victoria Nile into Lake Kyoga. This was in spite of the successful control of the weed in Lake Victoria between 1998 and 2000