Uncategorized

Fall armyworm invades Manicaland

16 Dec, 2016 - 00:12 0 Views
Fall armyworm invades Manicaland

The ManicaPost

Samuel Kadungure Farming Reporter—

THE fall armyworm – a pest notorious for destroying cereal crops and green pastures has invaded Manicaland – prompting swift deployments of chemicals and agronomists to combat the caterpillars since small ones are much easier to kill than larger ones.The fall armyworm has hit Chipinge District – where remedial efforts to control them are underway.

The armyworm outbreak has caused panic within the affected farming communities as the severe attack of crops and velds by the devastating armyworms may result in either replanting or failing to meet their food requirements.

The fall armyworm is a chronic pest that feeds on a variety of well-fertilised crops such as maize, pearl millet, sorghum and pastures.

The pest, which can wreak havoc in fields if left to multiply, derives its name from its feeding habits. It eats everything in an area and once the food supply is exhausted, the entire “army” will move to the next available food source.

Fall armyworms are most numerous in early fall and another reason for the sudden appearance of this insect is that “march into” an uninfested area in search of food once an adjacent field has been defoliated.

Manicaland Provincial Agritex Officer, Mr Godfrey Mamhare, confirmed the outbreak, adding that as with other pests, timing to combat them is important.

Mr Mamhare said his department was distributing carbarly and boom sprays required to contain the outbreaks.

He said if remedial action is delayed, damage would have already been done.

“We have deployed necessary pesticides at the right time. Small fall armyworms are much easier to kill than larger ones. Farmers across the province should continue inspecting their crop and report any caterpillars they do not understand to Agritex,” said Mr Mamhare.

It has become a norm in the past seasons that weeks preceding heavy rains will see a massive outbreak of caterpillars which are derided for eating crops and pastures.

More rainfall brings more moths and ultimately fresh outbreaks.

The worms can be combated by spraying carbrayl and heavy rains also destroy armyworms as they are susceptible to cold weather.

However, the incessant rains are often blamed for submerging the same cereal crops, with farmers often complaining of leaching.

Mr Mamhare said maize planting in the province had surpassed the 50 000 hectare mark. Apart from the fall armyworm outbreak in Chipinge, the first crop in other districts is in the late vegetative stage and ready for top dressing while the late one ranges from germination to early vegetative stage.

About 14 000ha of maize were planted in November and 36 000ha this month.

Mr Mamhare said the province had also planted 9 000ha of sorghum, 4 300ha of rapoko, 14 000ha of pearl millet and 600ha of cowpeas.

15 000ha of ground nuts, 7 000ha bambara nuts have also been planted.

Tobacco and cotton stand at 10 000ha and 515.4ha, respectively.

Manicaland has to date received average rainfall of 110.8mm, with pattern of between five to 10 days.

The rainfall distribution was fair – though not all areas received it.

“The early planted crop is nearing knee height, and now requires top dressing. The weed pressure is 90 percent low, seven percent medium and three percent high and farmers should keep their fields weed-free so that nutrients from chemical and organic fertilisers are fully utilised by the crop only,” said Mr Mamhare.

Zimbabwe has had a major challenge of armyworms which are hatched by butterflies. Strong, moist winds bring rain, can blow the butterflies from areas of high concentration, to areas without, and when they eventually hatch, leads to widespread of the savaging caterpillars.

Last year the armyworm swept across the province destroying crops and pastures, thereby contributing to poor harvests that were eventually accelerated by the El-Nino induced drought.

 

Share This:

Sponsored Links

We value your opinion! Take a moment to complete our survey

This will close in 20 seconds