Army Worm |
Zambia, Malawi and
Zimbabwe are urging farmers to act fast with pesticides to halt the
spread of army worms now threatening crops. Army worms are a common
pest, but this year's invasion has sparked particular concern.
In those three
countries alone, the worms have destroyed thousands of hectares of maize
— a staple food. El Nino-induced drought and flooding destroyed much of
the previous two harvests, leaving nearly 30 million people in the
region in need of food assistance.
"The problem is
that if you have had, like we have had here in southern Africa, two
droughts, it provides [a] conducive environment for the army worms to be
very active when the rains come," said Chimimba David Phiri,
coordinator for the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization for Southern
Africa.
Malawi first
reported the army worms at the start of January, in eight of the
country's 28 districts. Now, officials say the worms have spread across
Malawi.
"People in most
parts of the country are now reporting incidents of some sort,” said
Erica Maganga, principal secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture in
Malawi. She said efforts are underway to contain the worms.
"It's a pest that
comes almost in every growing season,” Maganga said, “so we always
pre-position pesticides in all the ADDs [Agriculture Development
Divisions]. We are giving out cypermethrin to small-scale farmers whose
gardens have been affected."
Maganga says owners
of big farms are advised to buy the pesticides from agro-dealer shops.
Rose Chisowa, a farmer outside Malawi's capital Lilongwe, said that
she has almost managed to control the worms which invaded her rice
field.
"I noted about the
army worms earlier,” she said. “Actually, I noted it on my rice when it
was on nursery. So I bought some pesticides. I sprayed cypermethrin and
it worked."
Zimbabwe is
reporting the army worms in seven of the country's eight corn-growing
provinces. But it is Zambia that has been the hardest hit. The country
first registered the invasion of the worms last month in four provinces:
Copperbelt, Central, Eastern and Lusaka.
Zambia has been
using military planes to spray pesticides to highly affected areas.
Local media reports say the worms have destroyed 124,000 hectares of
maize crops in Zambia, up from nearly 90,000 hectares last week.
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