Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000
ONLY 10 percent of the country’s 190,000 maize farming hectares were attacked by the ravaging armyworms, forcing farmers to replant but the pest has been contained, Ministry of Agriculture director Peter Lungu has announced.
Mr Lungu said most of the maize fields that were affected had recovered from the attack and if the rains continued, a good harvest was expected because the attack came at the early stage of the maize growth.
Mr Lungu said currently there were new reports of the armyworms in all the provinces but that the ministry had continued to send pesticides, especially to the small scale farmers who were not able to purchase the chemicals to ensure that there was no reoccurrence.
He said that early maturing seed was re-distributed to farmers who needed re-planting and as such there would not be any delay in the harvest of the crop.
Mr Lungu said the ministry had responded timely to the situation and that he did see the need for farmers to use un-prescribed chemicals.
“I have no information of people using washing detergents to treat worms on the fields. For all I know, the armyworms have been contained and farmers that lost their first crop were given early maturing seed and have since re-planted.
‘‘As a matter of fact, only 10 percent of the 190,000 maize hectares were affected by the armyworms which have since been contained,” Mr Lungu said.
He said the use of the un-prescribed chemicals did not affect the growth of the crop and advised farmers purchasing armyworm chemicals to get the correct one.
