Posted on June, 28, 2019 at 10:56 am
Fall armyworms have destroyed over 40 per cent of maize in the country, thus compromising the national food security, a senior scientist has said.
The disclosure comes at a time when the government has approved and registered five pesticides for use by farmers to battle the Fall armyworms.
“This is an invasive pest which has been sweeping across Africa. We cannot control it by using one method and currently we also know it is not only affecting maize but can attack over 80 crop species,” said Stephen Mugo, Principal Scientist at International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT).
Mugo said the organisation has initiated breeding research for maize that can resist insect pests by using native genes that are already in the plant.
Kenya Agriculture and Livestock Research Organisation (Kalro) Director of Crops Zachary Kinyua said the new pesticides have been approved by the Poisons and Pest Control Board.
“Last year we did not have officially registered pesticides but now we have and we are also working on widening the spectrum of insecticides available to farmers,” he added.
Kinyua, who spoke yesterday during the First Fall Army Worm conference in Nairobi, said new technologies have also been tested such as the use of Philemon traps a biopesticide for early warning signs.
“Scientists are also investigating the worms natural enemies within the country and there are promising results that we have some fungi that are attacking the Fall armyworms (FAW) and can be formulated into biopesticides,” he added.
Kinyua said the scientists are also carrying out research on management of environment such as working on intercropping to find out if Fall armyworm would affect maize less if it was intercropped with the legumes.
Apart from maize, he added, another host that is being attacked by FAW is sorghum and they are encouraging farmers to engage in scouting and surveillance.
Agriculture Chief Administrative Secretary Andrew Tuimur said to date, the pest occurrence has been confirmed in 43 out of 47 counties thus posing a great danger to food security.
The government confirmed during the conference held at Kalro headquarters that only four counties – Mandera, Wajir, Garissa and Marsabit have not reported the presence of FAW.
Maize fields
“In 2017, about 250,000 hectares of maize fields were infested. A survey conducted by a multi-institutional technical team on FAW in September 2017, pegged the national average yield reduction due to the pest at 20 per cent,” he said.
“The resultant yield loss, therefore, was estimated to be 1.05 million 90-kilo bags, with a value of Sh3.15 billion,” Tuimur added.
Tuimur made the remarks in a speech read on his behalf by the director in charge of knowledge management in the State Department for Agricultural Research, Margaret Makelo.
Kinyua said in 2018, the yield loss was estimated to be low at five per cent, due to the efforts made in creating awareness and building capacity of extension service providers and other stakeholders coupled with the heavy rainfall received in most parts of the country.
Source: MediaMax Network