After successful germination, a germ tube which protrudes from the seed attaches itself to the root of a host plant. Much of the impairment of host growth and productivity is complete before the weed emerges above ground, some four to six weeks after germination. Chemical control is partly effective but out of the question for resource-poor farmers. Breeding for host-plant resistance has met with limited success. Labour intensive and tedious manual weeding is only moderately successful at best, and is ineffective with severe infestations.
Fertilizers bring about some improvement, but poverty is an impediment to their use.
Farmers are often forced to abandon their fields as infestations become so severe that attempts to grow crops become futile. The best hope for successful control lies in an integrated approach, and recent advances in research on pathogens is one aspect showing promise. When isolated and grown in culture, the fungus was shown to be highly effective in killing all developmental stages of Striga . But since this fungus is also able to produce, under certain growing conditions, the mycotoxin fumonisin B1, which is hazardous to mammals including humans, the fungus could not be considered for biological control. More than 200 fungal isolates were recovered from diseased Striga in 31 sites.