A "War Room” to combat armyworms is being set up in the Eastern Cape.
The arrival of the crop-ravaging Brazilian fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda) appears to be imminent, said Rural Development and Agrarian Reform MEC Mlibo Qoboshiyane yesterday.
“An attack can start at anytime,” said Qoboshiyane.
The worms do not merely eat the leaves like the African worm outbreak in 2013 – when they killed the plants, he said. Last month the worms swept down from Zambia and Zimbabwe across North West and Limpopo and two days ago entered the Free State.
An effective pesticide was still being identified, said deputy-director-general for Agriculture Leon Coetzee yesterday.
There are 42500ha of government-supported maize and small garden crops at risk, said Qoboshiyane.
In its moth stage the insect can fly hundreds of kilometres, making it very difficult to stop its spread.
Yesterday tropical storm Dineo was also marching on SA, bringing possible deluges and 117km/h gusts, the SA Weather Service reported.
However, the Eastern Cape was “too far south” to feel it, said PE SA Weather Service spokesman Garth Sampson.
Qoboshiyane was speaking after a high-powered meeting of 15 crop scientists and entomologists at Dohne Agricultural Development Institute near Stutterheim yesterday.
“It is moving faster than expected,” said Qoboshiyane, who said the worm attacked all food crops.
He said: “If it infests a field it wipes out the entire production.
“It is growing faster because of rising temperatures, inconsistent rainfall distribution, drought, floods and higher concentrations of carbon dioxide. There is unrest in the atmosphere”.
He said a provincial command structure would be set up this week. Chemicals are to be the main weapon, and stocks were being checked and national lists were being consulted.
A communication strategy to alert farmers to the approaching epidemic was being activated.
Four years ago, the African armyworm destroyed 1233ha of maize in Amathole district municipality, 722ha in Chris Hani, 95ha in Joe Gqabi and 8124ha in Oliver Tambo district.
“This fall armyworm is severe. All districts will set up joint operation centres to prepare . A joint technical commission must monitor their speed and impact in case.”
He said there was also a concern that the African armyworm, “which is dormant”, would reappear.
Centralised storage facilities for pesticides and equipment were being organised and “structures for our districts” and were being activated to “capacitate farmers”.
“If this armyworm comes to our province, which is vulnerable to poverty and food deficiencies, the impact will be much more severe . We will be working with national disaster management.”
All officials in disaster management and the early warning disaster centre were on notice to deliver a “rapid response”.
“We ploughed in September and October and have been monitoring good yields. We have invested millions in supporting communal household gardens.
“We are apprehensive. We will be using cellphones to monitor every day. We will be issuing contact numbers and launching a hotline this week.” — mikel@dispatch.co.za