Agriculture submits K36m budget to tackle fall army worms

By MAILESI BANDA THE Ministry of Agriculture has submitted a K36 million budget to the Ministry of Finance to buy chemicals for the control of fall army worms that have affected crops in the country.

Agriculture Permanent Secretary, Julius Shawa said the Finance has since assured him that they will soon release the money for the fight against army worms. Mr. Shawa said 85 percent of the money released by Finance will be used to procure chemicals while the remainder will go towards transport and other requirements.

“We have submitted a budget of K36 million to the Ministry of Finance to be able to procure chemicals that will help in the fight against army worms,” Mr. Shawa said. He also disclosed that the Food and Agriculture Organisation, (FAO) has given the ministry US$274, 000 to train personnel in the fight against army worms.

Mr. Shawa said the money, which will be spent over two and a half years will go towards ensur-ing that the farmers are well informed on how to protect their crops from attacks by army worms. “After the funding from FAO we expect that we will be able to reach more areas in the fight against army worms. The first to be trained will be officers who will then disseminate the information in the affected areas,” he said.

Meanwhile, the director in the department of agri-culture, Mr Peter Lungu said the most hit regions are Copperbelt, Central and Southern provinces.

Mr Lungu advised farmers to utilise the flexibility in the Evoucher system and get chemicals to pro-tect their fields and to also approach District Agriculture Officers on how they can protect their fields.