Army worm: fear grips maize farmers as rainy season approaches
Maize farmers in the country are already pleading with the relevant stakeholders to suggest a reliable solution to the Fall Army Worms that use to attack their farms during rainy season.
Some of the farmers, who spoke with our agric editor, expressed fears that nothing tangible, had been done by the government to prevent the future attacks.
My John Tezugar, a renowned maize farmer in Garam, a community in Niger State, said he lost over 80 percent of his farm to the worm last year, saying that if necessary suggestion was not made available to them on how to tackle the worm, he might not farm maize this year.
‘’We are not saying they should give us anything, what we want is an advice or recommend reliable chemicals we can use to control the warm in our farms,’’ he said.
Mr. Joseph Zakwoyi, another maize farmer, regretted that despite the recent devastating effects of the worms on the farms recently, nothing concrete has been heard from the government or relevant international bodies on how to tackle the worm.
Alhaji Bello Abubakar, the National President, Maize Association of Nigeria, said that army worm in 2018 invaded many farmlands in 12 states wreaking havoc on all the farms in the process.
The states, according to him, include Kastina, Kaduna, Jigawa, Kwara, Osun, Enugu, Yobe, Plateau and Niger, with 20 million tonnes of production destroyed against the expected high production due to the worm attack.
Abubakar described the attack as a major challenge facing efforts to achieve food security in the country as a high percentage of the farmers were losing virtually all their farm produces to the pest.
He warned that famine might occur across the country if tangible measures were not taken to deal with the current invasion of the armyworms
Also, the National Task Force on Falls Army Worms (FAW) called on federal government to declare a state of emergency on army worms in Nigeria.
The task force said the declaration became necessary following the need to sustain the fight against army worms which had led to the loss of estimated N275.4 billion by maize farmers in the South West alone.
The African army worm (Spodoptera exempta), also called on okalombo, kommandowurm or nutgrass army worm, is a moth and a very deleterious pest, capable of destroying the entire crops of a farm in a couple of weeks.
A member of the committee, Mr Suffyan Koroma, the FAO Country Representative in Nigeria said at the opening of the meeting of the National Task Force on Fall Army Worms (FAW) in Abuja.
Koroma, who was represented by Mr Ahmed Matani, a FAO official, said that it had become imperative for government to implement a policy on FAW as the committee was particularly concerned about the disastrous impact which FAW could have on countries that were already facing crises.
He said that as part of efforts to ensure sustainable food and nutrition security in Nigeria, the committee would go into action and work out the modalities to ensure sustainable actions.
The FAO official said that the crop-eating moth, which had devastated maize farms in over 40 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, remained a scourge for many farmers in the region.
“Fall Army worm, which originated from the Americas, was reported for the first time in Nigeria and some African countries in 2016; it has a migratory habit and can spread fast, eating up crops on its path,’’ he said.
He said that the economic effect of the pest would also be felt by the agro industries that produce livestock feeds as the industry accounted for over 60 per cent utilisation of maize.
Koroma said that the measures to be taken by the committee include assembling experts to brainstorm on sustainable FAW management; building better warning, monitoring and response mechanisms, while supporting farmers to mitigate pest damage, develop action plans and policies as well as training extension workers and farmers.
Prof. James Adediran, a member of the committee, also a Director, Soil Fertility, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, said the rainy season was around the corner and immediate action should be taken in line with the warning and predictions by NIMET.
Adediran told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), on the sidelines of the programme that the recent survey showed that the economic implication was already becoming devastating as it had reduced the income and total loss of revenue to farmers.
“Some of the farmers in the South West alone lost over 30 hectares of maize farmland to the outbreak,’’ he said.
Adediran said that this could also lead to low grain yields and income which could further discourage farmers to invest in maize production since no one to remunerate them for the losses.
Prof. Christogonus Daudu, also a member of the committee, said government needed to take urgent action in declaring the state of emergency as the outbreak could jeopardise the food security programme.
Daudu, who is also the Assistant Director, Research, Planning and Evaluation, National Agricultural and Research Liaison Services (NAERLS), said that the feedbacks they were getting from farmers across the country “is very alarming’’ and needed urgent attention.
He said that globally FAW had become an emergency considering the damages it had caused globally.
“The Nigeria idea of when it comes we will face it and combat it is now out of place at the rate at which the warms attack and destroyed farms.
“Government should put a policy in place to combat the menace because the achievements recorded on agriculture could be reversed by the outbreak, if care is not taken,’’ he said.