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Kwania, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Farmers in Atongtidi sub-county Kwania district in northern Uganda are worried about the outbreak of fall armyworms.
Fall army worms also known as a butterfly are pest species that attack over 80 varieties of crops including maize, sorghum, sugarcane, cotton, rice and wheat among others.
Mary Grace Alum, a farmer and a teacher of Chawente primary school says that the worm has in the last four days infested and destroyed the leaves of almost three acres of her maize crop. She explained that the damage they have left as her crops withered leaves her with no hope.
Another farmer Justine Achola has been trying to manage the pests by sprinkling her maize crops with ashes mixed with water however this has yielded no result. She appealed to the government to provide them with pesticides.
Joe Okullo, a farmer in Akaidebe cell in Atongtidi sub-county is also crying out for help to prevent the pest which he says has destroyed almost three acres of his three weeks maize and millet crops in the last two weeks.
Atongtidi sub-county chairman Patrick Onyum Okwang says that the worms have so far destroyed many gardens in the parishes of Iwal, Acenlworo, Atongtidi, Wigweng and Agolowelo parishes. He calls for immediate intervention of the government to save farmers from possible total crop loss.
Johnson Ojok Ocen, the Kwania district production coordinator explains that fall armyworm is a very dangerous pest that massively destroys crop pest from the inner parts of the crops which give them the energy to grow.
Ojok Ocen said the threat from the armyworms has increased in the sub-counties of Chawente, Inomo and Aduku. He however, said that they have forwarded requests to the ministry of Agriculture for pesticides and pumps to the affected districts.
The infestation of the fall armyworms was registered in Uganda in 2016. The Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) report of 2018 says that up to 17.7 million tons of maize could be lost annually due to the Fall Armyworms on the African Continent.
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