False alarm over aggressive worm
WORMS attacking an East London man’s garden were yesterday quickly identified by the government and found not to be the feared crop-wrecking fall armyworm.
“We have not yet received reports of the insect in the province. However, our extension officers are scouting,” said Dr Thembekazi Silwana, director of plant and crop production research in the provincial rural development and agrarian reform department yesterday.
On Monday his MEC, Mlibo Qoboshiyane, announced the plague was expected and put in place a combat strategy.
Dr Silwana named the culprit that destroyed LinkFM station manager Tich Wild’s cycad and surrounding plants in his Baysville home as a cycad looper or Zerenopsis lepida from the family Geometridae.
“The insects feed gregariously on cycads, apodytes, carissa and maesa. It is normally found in the forest,” said the MEC’s office.
Silwana listed the following registered chemicals and pesticides recommended by the national Department of Agriculture Forestry and Fisheries to try and kill the approaching pests as: Chlorantraniliprole, Indoxacarb, Emamectin benzoate, Flubendiamide and Lufenuron.
Indoxacarb and Emamectin benzoate were available under other trade names, she added.
“The amount of chemical needed will depend on the size of the infested field and the dosages outlined on the chemical leaflet by the manufacturer,” she said.
Wild, who is also the radio anchor of the station’s Breakfast Show, said: “My garden in Baysville is under attack from worms. It was completely obliterated by worms and upon further investigation we discovered the worm has spread rapidly.
“On Sunday my wife Vivienne said: Check at this! The cycad’s leaves had turned completely tan. We had a closer look and the stem of each leaf had been burrowed out and was covered in worms.
“We looked left and right and around – it was covered with worms. They were walking up the wall of the garage, everything within 15m of the cycad.
“We went around and tried to kill them manually. I had some spray which I used but today I noticed they were still having a field day on the cycad which is completely annihilated.”
The worms were also all over plants and shrubs nearby.
Yesterday, international experts held an emergency UN meeting in Harare over the outbreak.
Already staple crops have been damaged in Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Ghana, Malawi, Mozambique and Namibia.
Experts said this was the first time that species from the Americas had caused widespread damage in Africa.
“So, farmers do not know really how to treat it,” said David Phiri, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation’s coordinator for southern Africa.
He said it started in places like Nigeria and Togo, which had it last year.
Experts from 13 countries will spend three days at the summit.
Last week the Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International (CABI) warned that the rapidly spreading worm relished maize and burrowed into the cobs. —