Armyworms may invade sugar

Published Feb 17, 2017

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Johannesburg - An outbreak of fall armyworms that has attacked

corn plants in South Africa may spread to sugarcane in the KwaZulu-Natal

province, where a warm climate would help the pest survive through the year,

the Agricultural Research Council said.

The alien pest, confirmed in South Africa this month, has

already spread to all nine provinces including eastern KwaZulu-Natal, where the

bulk of cane is grown in the nation. There aren’t yet any reports of

infestations, Roger Price, a manager at the Pretoria-based ARC, said in an

e-mailed reply to questions on Thursday.

“We are very concerned that fall armyworms will get into

the sugarcane along the KwaZulu-Natal coast, where it could persist in the

warmer climatic conditions,” he said. “My personal view is that the vast bulk

of the commercial maize crop has not been damaged and that national food

security is not currently at risk.”

The armyworms, which arrived in West Africa from the

Americas early in 2016, spread south through Zambia and Zimbabwe before

arriving in Africa’s biggest producer of corn, the region’s staple food. There

are reports of the pest in Greyton, KwaZulu-Natal, about 70 kilometres north

east of the coastal area where sugarcane is grown, Price said.

Read also:  The threat that's worse than Armyworms

Temperatures along the KwaZulu-Natal coastline are

generally higher than South Africa’s inland areas because of the warm waters of

the Indian Ocean, providing a more conducive climate for the fall armyworm,

which comes from the tropics in the Americas.

It’s difficult to predict what impact an outbreak in

KwaZulu-Natal’s cane fields could have, Carolyn Baker, director of the South

African Sugarcane Research Institute, said in reply to e-mailed questions.

“We are worried but are somewhat comforted by the fact

that the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries has circulated a

series of responses that can be applied in the event that the armyworm is

detected,” she said. “We are taking the lead from the department at this

stage.”

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