Online Reporter
As we feared, armyworm infestations have been reported in at least 25 districts countrywide.
The season has been remarkably wet since December and it is this remarkable wetness that got us musing, afraid too that the pest could hit once again.
Indeed, it did.
The pest, both the fall and African armyworm, has quite an appetite, especially for cereals. If uncontrolled early enough, it can eat up whole fields, leaving farmers angry, hungry and poorer.
It is because of its capacity to cause total damage and spread so instantly that it is a notifiable pest in the country.
Districts that have been affected include Umguza, Uzumba-Maramba-Pfungwe, Murehwa, Mudzi, Goromonzi, Shamva, Chipinge, Mutasa, Mutare, Chimanimani, Buhera, Chiredzi, Zaka, Bikita, Gutu, Masvingo, Mwenezi, Hwange, Hurungwe, Mazowe, Mberengwa, Guruve, and Zvimba.
In Mberengwa, an estimated 307 hectares of cereal crops and over 2 400 hectares of grazing land had been affected by Wednesday, we reported yesterday.
This saddens us a lot because we are losing significant amounts of maize and other grains to this pest.
This, as we noted earlier, has significant food security implications. There is a risk that some farmers might not harvest anything in a season that gave us so much rain.
We recognise the work that the Government is doing to educate farmers on the need to always scout for the pest. If they identify it, they are encouraged to report to authorities given the worm’s designation as a notifiable pest.
In addition, the Government is assisting some growers by spraying pesticide to control it.
These are important interventions.
However, to expect authorities to have enough resources to buy the pesticide, move it to the areas of distress and to then actually have the equipment to apply the pesticide timeously is to expect too much.
That puts the ball squarely in the farmers’ fields. It is their ultimate responsibility to, not only scan their fields for the pest but to also raise adequate resources to act against it so that they reap the huge harvest they deserve after the 2024 disaster.
We urge our farmers to take it all in their own hands because at the end of the season, the loss is totally theirs if they do not do as we suggest.
In saying this, we clearly appreciate that some farmers are so poor that the seed maize they planted, now being devoured by the armyworm, was a donation. As such they do not have money to spend on pesticides. We regret that.
But we have been advised that there are a few, more accessible alternatives to over-the-counter pesticides that they can use to be able to fight off the worm. Applying a bit of soil or cold ash at the heart of the maize crop, the exact spot where the pesticide is sprayed into, can help.
We have not tested this ourselves, but trying them is more responsible than just waiting for crops to be eaten up.
