Fall armyworms: What makes them so devastating?

Fall armyworms

DOREEN NAWA, Lusaka
FARMERS have likened the invasion of the fall armyworms to the much talked about pestilence in the Bible.
This is so because the invasion by this maize pest is occurring for the first time and all possible mitigation factors seem not to work.
The invasion has not only affected maize fields in Zambia, but in five other countries in the southern African region – Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe
This invasion of fall armyworms is stripping southern Africa of key food crops, mainly maize.
Since December when the first outbreak was reported, no concrete solution to the pest has been found.
There has been a lack of scientific leadership in the control of fall armyworms, according to the Zambia Academy of Science (ZAS).
Although Zambia is experiencing the fall armyworm outbreak for the first time, ZAS president Kavwanga Yambayamba acknowledged that it is not the first time that Zambia has experienced an outbreak of agricultural pests.
As such, Professor Yambayamba says the country should have been better prepared to control the outbreak, adding that from this, it appeared as though the country did not have the scientific knowledge and experience to fight agricultural pests.
“We have had outbreaks of stalk borer, African armyworms and the red locust, but for the fall armyworms, we were experiencing them for the first time. As a result, in spite of all the commendable efforts by government, there still is a vacuum in preparedness,” Prof Yambayamba says.
Prof Yambayamba says because the pest is new to the country and the Southern African region, it has taken field teams a much longer than normal period, to identify them and this has led to wrong information on the identity of the worms being given to the farming community.
“Early identification of the pest leads to correct and more effective control strategies based on the biology and behavior of the pest. There has been a lack of reliable scientific extension messages and systems, and this resulted into some confusion,” Prof Yambayamba says.
ZAS comprises the Entomological Society of Zambia, Copperbelt University, Mulungushi University, University of Zambia and the Institute for Eco-Development Strategies and Toxicology (IESTO).
Prof Yambayamba says currently, little is known on how this particular pest entered Southern Africa.
“Since this pest is very new in Zambia, the southern Africa region as well as the continent, very little is known on its long term effects and in what form it came. The only known thing is that it was positively identified as the fall armyworm a few days later,” Prof Yambayamba says.
Maize, a staple food in the region has been the most affected, as well as other cereals including sorghum, millet and wheat.
The fall armyworm is a destructive caterpillar that is indigenous to the Americas. The ‘fall’ refers to the season during which it tends to migrate to the United States.
It was only spotted in Africa last year in western Nigeria but has already left a trail of destruction which is threatening food security in many parts of Southern Africa. The pest targets maize, sorghum, soya beans, groundnuts and potatoes.
In Zambia, 124,000 hectares (306,000 acres) of maize have been destroyed.
Essential for food security not only in Zambia but in large parts of Africa, maize is particularly vulnerable to the larvae of the fall armyworm, which attacks the crop’s growing points and burrows into the cobs.
In December 2016, as a way of controlling the pest, Zambia’s President Lungu called in the country’s military to help contain the outbreak.
Military planes transported pesticides to the worst-affected areas so that crops could be sprayed as a matter of urgency.
The fall armyworms have devoured crops in seven of Zambia’s 10 provinces.
An Entomologist at the University of Zambia Professor Phillip Obed Yobe Nkunika says the fall armyworms, which grow into moths and are not, technically speaking, worms but so named for their ability to destroy massive amounts of crops, in the manner of troops trampling over the countryside.
Prof Nkunika says pesticides have shown to be effective against armyworms in the past but not anymore.
“From the many voices of the affected farmers, we can say that the fall armyworms have developed resistance to the usual chemicals that kill them. It is until when the results are out that the truth will be known,” Prof Nkunika says.
Prof Nkunika says the damaged leaf of a corn plant caused by an infestation of fall armyworms, also known as Spodoptera frugiperda, is devastating and threatens not only Zambia’s food security but the Southern Africa region too. PUBLISHED IN THE ZAMBIA DAILY MAIL ON FEBRUARY 19, 2017. Link: https://www.daily-mail.co.zm/?p=95127