‘Fall armyworms’ may jeopardise agric initiative - Agric expert

The Ministry of Food and Agriculture should include ways to control recently discovered ‘fall armyworms’ (FAW), which attack crops under the much-touted Planting for Food and Jobs (PFFJ) initiative, or else they risk jeopardising the programme, an agriculture expert has said.

The Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Coordinator at the Centre for Agriculture and Biosciences International (CABI), Mr Roger Day, said since the targeted crops under the initiative fell within the category that were attacked by the worms, the government should consider how the fall armyworms and those kind of issues can be included in the programme.

“I will recommend a national task force probably convened by the Plant Protection and Regulatory Services Directorate (PPRSD) which will include all the different stakeholders and their role will be to start addressing the immediate priorities identified and also start making some longer-term plans,” he said in an interview on April 21, 2017, in Accra during a two-day workshop to respond to the FAW invasion.

He said that currently there was no scientific knowledge to give the best advice but there was the need to give some immediate advice to farmers who needed it, while plans are set up to collect more information so as to improve on that in future.

Coordinated response

In Ghana and neighbouring countries, the potential impact of the FAW is particularly high due to the large amount of maize, rice and sorghum being grown, and so would require medium and longer-term responses and actions to address the immediate emergency that farmers are facing.

CABI, a non-governmental organisation, together with the PPRSD and other partners, is embarking on the Plantwise project through which they run plant clinics where farmers go to seek solutions to their plant health problems.

“We are working with all of them to promote a more coordinated approach because each has different information and experience to contribute so farmers get coherent messages,” he said.

FAW

Scientifically known as Spodoptera frugiperda, the FAW originates in the Americas and is a new pest in Africa that attacks maize but can also feed on a range of other crops including millet, sorghum, rice wheat, sugar cane and vegetables.

Similarly, the PFFJ initiative aimed at encouraging the entire citizenry to take up farming as a full/part-time activity would involve the production of the aforementioned crops and other crops would be adopted in subsequent years.

Caterpillars tend to enter through the side of the ear and feed on developing kernels in contrast to stem borer caterpillars that normally enter the ear from the top or the bottom.

Leaf damage is usually characterised by ragged feeding, and moist sawdust-like frass near the funnel and upper leaves.

The workshop

The PPRSD of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture and CABI organised the stakeholder workshop to develop a FAW response plan with national and international partners.

The workshop provided the opportunity for stakeholders to share experiences and information on how to address the issue of the FAW. 

The acting Director of the PPRSD, Mr Ebenezer Aboagye, said the ministry was working seriously to solve the problem.