It Came From The Americas — And It's Bad News For Africa

Southern Africa is facing an invasion by an army — but not the sort of force you can defeat with ammunition. This foreign invader is an agricultural pest that is threatening the breadbasket of the region.

Zambian farmer Daniel Banda noticed in late December that something was munching through his crop of corn, destroying the maize fields on his small farm just outside the capital, Lusaka. Voracious caterpillars, known as fall armyworms, had nestled in the cobs and chomped through the leaves.

"Not until I saw my field did I realize how serious this issue is," says Banda. "I've been affected drastically because I spent a lot of money in buying seed, which is almost going to waste if [the fall armyworm] is not controlled. And I'm just hoping that God comes to our aid ... because this field is what I normally use to feed my family."

Spraying what's left of his ravaged crop with insecticide, Banda hopes that within the limited planting season, he may be able to grow corn again. Corn is the basis for the region's staple food — a thick cornmeal porridge known in Zambia as nshima.

Banda's new enemy is the Spodoptera frugiperda moth species from the Americas, which hit West Africa last year before migrating to the south of the continent. Scientists believe the armyworm caterpillar — or its eggs — may have traveled to the continent embedded in imported produce.

"They can easily wipe out a whole crop," says Chimimba David Phiri, the southern Africa regional coordinator for the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). "They are second only to red locusts in terms of the intensity of damage they can cause, if not controlled. So, it's a very, very dangerous pest."

South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe have seen an outbreak of the fall armyworm. Reports suggest the pest is present in three other countries in the region: Malawi, Mozambique and Namibia.

Phiri says the key to stopping these caterpillars in their tracks is early detection.

"It can only be controlled when the larvae are still very small, and they're under the leaves," he explains. "Then it is easy to use pesticides to control it. Now our problem is that about 40 million people are suffering from food insecurity from two years of drought. For us now to add another year of a bad crop, thanks to armyworm, it would be absolute disaster."

The return of rains to southern Africa is part of the problem. The moisture has brought both the familiar African armyworm, a longstanding pest, and the fall armyworm caterpillar to the surface. And once the caterpillars morph into moths, they turn into an enemy air force.

"It's a very migratory species, this new invader," says Kenneth Wilson from Britain's Lancaster University. "The caterpillar stage does the damage to the crop — maize, cereal crops, wheat, sorghum, millet and the like. And this fall armyworm, as it's called, also feeds on a range of other plant species. They're called armyworms because when they've finished eating the crop they're on, then they go looking for another one. So they look like an army marching in search of food."

"But it's the adult moth that disperses," he points out. And that's why Wilson fears the moths may spread far beyond this region.

"It's highly accomplished at flying," he says. "It does that in a series of hops. And it's very likely that the moths currently in Africa, if they have the same flightability, which they almost certainly do, they could make it to the Mediterranean and from there, on to other places."

In fact, they could make it as far as Asia, Wilson thinks.

Back in Zambia, the government says it has procured insecticides and a supply of early maturing seeds so farmers who've been struck by the pest can replant their crop. That relief may not come soon enough for David Banda. The farmer fears he may have to start buying cornmeal again for his family if the armyworm persists.

"I will have to rely back on the shops," he says. "So the self-sustenance that I enjoyed, I'm likely going to lose it if this [pest] is not controlled."

And the price of cornmeal could skyrocket if the armyworm devastates the corn crop.

The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization is holding emergency meetings in Zimbabwe this week to assess the armyworm invasion in southern Africa.

From the source: http://www.npr.org

New pest poses novel threat to region reeling from effects of consecutive droughts

3 February 2017, Harare – A fall armyworm outbreak, the first emergence of the pest in southern Africa, is causing considerable crop damage in some countries. If the pest damage aggravates, it could dampen prospects for good crop harvests that is anticipated in the current farming season. Maize, a staple food in the region has been the most affected, as well as other cereals including sorghum, millet and wheat.

Southern Africa is reeling from the effects of two consecutive years of El Nino-induced drought that affected over 40 million people, reduced food availability by 15 percent and caused a cereal deficit of 9 million tonnes.

The FAO Subregional Coordinator for southern Africa, David Phiri, said that the situation was constantly evolving. “The situation remains fluid. Preliminary reports indicate possible presence (of the pest) in Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe has positively identified the presence of the pest while the rest are expected to release test results soon," he said.

In Zambia, the Government has already spent US$ 3 million in an attempt to control the pest that has affected approximately 130 000 hectares of crops. However, the full extent of the damage in the country and other affected countries, is yet to be established. The pest which primarily spreads through wind dispersal and host plant products, is reported to be still active. The affected countries are also in different stages of assessing the damage to the crops because the outbreaks did not occur simultaneously.

Fall armyworm is a relatively new pest from the Americas, whose presence on the African continent was first reported in Sao Tome and Principe around January 2016. The pest is known to cause extensive crop losses of up to 73 percent depending on existing conditions and is difficult to control with a single type of pesticide, especially when it has reached an advanced larval development stage.

Emergency Regional Meeting to shape coordinated action

FAO, in partnership with the Southern African Development Committee (SADC) and the International Red Locust Control Organization for Central and Southern Africa (IRLCO-CSA), is organizing an Emergency Regional Meeting of key stakeholders from 14 to 16 February 2017 in Harare, Zimbabwe.

“Southern Africa is currently facing serious threats posed by diverse transboundary pests and diseases, including the varied armyworms, locusts, the tomato leaf minor and maize lethal necrosis disease. The Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza, H5N8 strain, that has been confirmed to be in Uganda and possibly Rwanda too, is likely to spread southwards, along the wild bird migration routes”, said David Phiri.

The Harare meeting will discuss the strengthening of surveillance, preparedness and coordinated emergency responses to transboundary crop pests and livestock diseases, including the fall armyworm infestation. It will also discuss control strategies and measures and provide a platform for sharing experiences and valuable lessons. 

The meeting is being organized with funding availed to FAO by the Africa Solidarity Trust Fund, United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFiD).

Developing capacities for rapid response

As the region faces up to these new and emerging challenges, that are threatening the livelihoods of over 70 percent of the population that depend on agriculture, there is a crucial need to enhance capacity at country and regional levels, to prevent, detect and respond rapidly to any new pests and diseases threat.

“The countries need to maintain and, where needed, expand diagnostic laboratory, surveillance and response capacity as well as conduct assessments and research to enable rapid responses to recurrent and new threats”, said David Phiri.

FAO is working with governments, the SADC and other stakeholders to develop and roll out an appropriate strategy to determine the level of fall armyworm infestation and its impact on crop production. The organization will continue supporting response efforts as well as contribute to enhancing the resilience capacity of the countries and stakeholders in the region.

From the source: http://www.fao.org/africa/news/