ZCZC
BFF-30
MALAWI-AGRICULTURE-PEST-FOOD
Caterpillar invasion worsens Malawi food insecurity
BLANTYRE, Malawi, Jan 22, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – An invasion of crop-munching
fall armyworm caterpillars has inflicted a further blow to food security in
Malawi, where nearly two million people have already been hit by drought, the
government said Wednesday.
The invasion has hit 467,000 farmers in all 28 farming districts in the
southern African country, according to the latest statistics.
Around 144,000 hectares (355,000 acres) of crops have been hit, a figure
nearly triple that of 2017, when President Peter Mutharika declared a state
of disaster after 20 districts were affected.
The latest outbreak has affected sorghum, millet, rice and the staple crop
of maize, which is also called corn, Chief Agriculture Officer George Lungu
told AFP.
“The level of damage is moderate to severe and in some fields, farmers
require replanting,” he said.
Around 1.9 million people are already struggling with food shortages as a
result of a drought that has gripped much of southern Africa.
“The armyworm invasion will worsen their already food insecurity
situation,” said Alfred Kambwiri, an independent agricultural expert.
Government is distributing pesticides to help the farmers control the
infestation.
The fall armyworm caterpillar is the larva of a moth (Latin name
Spodoptera frugiperda) that is native to warm regions of the Americas and can
fly up to 100 kilometres (60 miles) a night, according to the UN’s Food and
Agricultural Organization (FAO).
The species was first detected in central-western Africa in early 2016 and
“then quickly spread across virtually all of sub-Saharan Africa,” the FAO
says on its website
BSS/AFP/BZC/2020HRS