Johannesburg – Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Senzeni Zokwana has vowed to tackle the ongoing battle against the Fall Armyworm which has affected crops across several provinces in the country.
“Damage assessment will be done and action will be taken to manage the pest. I plan to visit the areas affected.
“Samples have been taken in Limpopo and Gauteng farms, more surveys will be done to determine the spread of the pest. An awareness campaign has been rolled out to all provinces and we will continue to monitor the situation,” Zokwana said.
He explained that the Fall Armyworm is new to South Africa and there was no set pesticide at this stage but emphasised that this was being dealt with.
“Agricultural chemicals with two active ingredients to combat the pest are being registered,” Zokwana said.
“The actions that we implement depend on the pest, the extent of the spread and extent of the damage. At this stage the extent of the spread has not been quantified,” he said.
However he said that the South African Emergency Plant Pest Response Plan was already in motion and this plan deals with new pest detections.
The minister stressed that he believed the plan of action in place will overcome this issue and added that sharing information between African countries was important to deal with it.
He clarified that they believe the pest was transported by winds and not through imports.
“No one must panic as we will deal with this issue. We will do what we can to minimise impact that this could have on harvests,” he said.
Zokwana added that their teams had been warned that something like this could happen following the drought.
Over the weekend the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) received confirmation that the recent pest infestation of crops across Limpopo and North West provinces is in-fact the Fall Armyworm.
The Agricultural Research Council, Plant Protection Research Institute (ARC PPRI) confirmed this through samples collected in the Limpopo Province.
“The samples were jointly collected by scientists from the ARC Grain Institute and the North West University. These were caterpillars that had to pupate and emerge as moths before a positive identification could be done,” said department spokesperson Bomikazi Molapo (corr).
According to DAFF, the damage reported so far has been mainly to yellow maize varieties, especially sweet corn as well as maize planted for seed production.
This pest is originally native to South and Central America and also occurs in the southern states of the US and uses wind currents to travel long distances as it’s a good flier.
This is the first time the Fall Armyworm has hit South African soil with it first appearing in Nigeria a year ago.
The major problem with the Fall Armyworm is that has a wide host range which can affect crops such as maize, sorghum, soybeans, groundnuts and potatoes. It’s also a good flyer and cannot be contained in a specific area.
Molapo said that reports of caterpillar damage has been received mainly from the Limpopo and North West provinces.
“Now that there is a positive identification, DAFF will continue with the assessment of spreads and damage, as well as awareness actions to provide farmers with accurate technical information and control options," she said.