The Ministry of Food and Agriculture, through its Plant Protection Regulatory Service Directorate, has distributed over seventy-nine thousand litres of pesticides to contain fall armyworms in some parts of the country.
The move follows a reported invasion of the pest on some maize farms, including the National Service Scheme Farm located at Dawhenya in the Greater Accra Region.
[contextly_sidebar id=”FamjzAl5UOYq6hWHc8LxG6eqjpQ64ZFm”]Speaking to Citi News, the Director of the Plant Protection Regulatory Service Directorate at the Ministry, Dr. Felicia Ansah-Amprofi urged farmers to report any invasion to the Agric Departments of their districts for help.
“The Coalitions in Africa are so good that it has come to stay. It will be with us always and our best approach is to make sure we manage it. Anybody who has the problem and does not take action will be held responsible because immediately you see the person on your farm, you have to contact the department to get your pesticide and spray.”
“This year, we have bought enough pesticide to send to the region. About 79,500 litres of pesticide which according to our estimation is able to cater for about 300 hectares of farmlands. There is no cause for alarm.”
In 2018, fall armyworms invaded over 300 farms in 20 communities in the Garu and Tempane Districts of the Upper East Region.
The development which wreaked havoc on maize farms also affected rice, groundnuts and sorghum farms as well.
Some affected farmers had earlier told Citi News that attempts to get chemicals from the district agricultural office to fight the armyworm invasion have so far proved futile.
In the last year or two, several attempts have been made to fight the fall armyworms invasion, but it appears a permanent solution is almost impossible.