Johannesburg- A larvae outbreak which has
damaged maize in South Africa's Limpopo and North West provinces
is "strongly suspected" to be the invasive armyworm that has
attacked crops in neighbouring countries, a scientist said on
Monday.
The infestation of fall armyworms - an invasive Central
American species that is harder to detect and eradicate than its
African counterpart - has erupted in Zambia, Zimbabwe and Malawi
and follows a crippling El Nino-triggered drought which scorched
much of the region last year.
Countries with confirmed outbreaks can face import bans on
their agricultural products because the armyworm is classified
as a quarantine pest.
Johnnie van den Berg, an entomologist at South Africa's
North-West University who has collected samples from affected
farms, said taxonomic tests were being done for confirmation.
"It needs to be identified by a taxonomist but we strongly
suspect it is the fall armyworm ... Visually, it looks 100
percent the same," he told Reuters in a phone interview.
"It may be confirmed by the end of this week," he said.
Read also: Armyworms hit Zimbabwe's maize
Van den Berg said coverage in South Africa was not
"blanket", with outbreaks reported many kilometres (miles) apart
in some places, but northern Limpopo province, bordering
Zimbabwe, seems to be the epicentre.
The impact varies: some farms have had minimal leaf damage,
others have been devastated.
"On some farms, there has been 90 percent damage and nearly
all the leaves have been stripped from the plant. It looks like
a row of broom sticks," he said.
South Africa is expected to have a maize surplus this season
after a deficit last year when 7.5 million tonnes of maize was
produced against national demand of 10.5 million tonnes.
Industry sources have said while an armyworm outbreak would
be unlikely to push the crop into deficit it could reduce the
size of the expected surplus.
"This fall armyworm is a Central American pest. Here we will
need to do more research to see where and how it establishes
itself," Van den Berg said.
He said the continental invasion began in July with
outbreaks in Nigeria and Sao Tome and Principe. It remains
unclear how it jumped across the Atlantic.
But the moths can be carried long distances by wind and may
have winged across central Africa that way.
The moths lay eggs in maize plants and the caterpillars have
also been known to march en masse across the landscape - hence
the name.