Pests in SA maize "strongly suspected" to be armyworms

A Malawian subsistence farmer surveys her maize fields in Dowa near the capital Lilongwe. (File photo: Mike Hutchings/Reuters)

A Malawian subsistence farmer surveys her maize fields in Dowa near the capital Lilongwe. (File photo: Mike Hutchings/Reuters)

Published Jan 30, 2017

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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. 

REUTERS

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