Sugar cane: How N650M is lost to stem borer, says plant protection president

The president of the Nigerian Society for Plant Protection ( NSPP), Prof. Abdulhammeed Umar Yufus, has cried out about the negative impact of stem borer disease on some sugar cane farms in Kano state, running to the loss of N650 million. 

Prof. Umar Yusuf, in an interview with Food Farm News, said about 4,560 farmers had suffered this loss on their sugar cane production farms due to the stem borer disease outbreak in the Kura local government council of Kano state, as the Federal Government has been informed.

Yusuf said the infestation has badly hit sugarcane production in six wards, including Gamadam, Tofa, Dukawa, Kunshama, Danhassan, and Gurun Kanya, thereby putting the livelihoods of thousands of farmers in a comatose.

“ The scale of the infestation is alarming. In some communities, entire sugarcane fields have been completely wiped out, posing a serious threat to both local livelihoods and the sugar cane value chain," Yusuf said.

He further said that his Association has formally informed the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security of urgent intervention through a letter dated 5th, November 2025, and with the title " Urgent notification of sugar cane stem borer outbreak in Kano state". 

The letter requested the immediate deployment of a rapid-response technical team to contain the outbreak with emergency relief for affected farmers, and the supply of certified sugarcane planting materials, environmentally friendly pesticides, and fertilizers. 

It also urged the development of a long-term Integrated Pest Management (IPM) strategy in partnership with research institutions and state agencies.

The association further cautioned that the pest could spread rapidly to other sugarcane-producing areas, calling for the immediate implementation of phytosanitary measures, heightened surveillance, farmer sensitization, and the use of environmentally safe control methods.