Europe under threat from army worm

Deadly caterpillar that destroyed SA crops poised to cross Mediterranean

ACROP-DESTROYING caterpillar that has devastated agriculture in Africa is poised to spread into southern Europe for the first time and could reach Britain, costing farmers hundreds of millions of pounds in losses, experts are warning.

Fall army worm, arguably the world’s most invasive crop pest, has inflicted huge damage on Africa’s fragile economies since the American insect was first spotted on the continent two years ago, raising fears of a humanitarian crisis among millions of farming families.

Crops on South African farms were severely affected by the invasion.

After mysteriously crossing the Atlantic, the insect – a caterpillar, despite its name – was first spotted in Nigeria and on the island of São Tomé in 2016. Scientists believe that it might have reached Africa, where it had never previously been seen, aboard a commercial passenger aircraft.

With female fall army worm moths able to fly almost 100km a night, the pest spread with terrifying speed, infesting crops in nearly 40 African countries within just 18 months.

Now on the fringes of the Sahara, experts hired by the European Union fear it is only a matter of time before Europe itself is infested.

Little can be done to stop the pest, previously confined only to the Americas, reaching Europe through natural migration.

Parts of Asia are similarly vulnerable, raising concerns of a worldwide infestation that could have significant implications on the global agricultural economy.

Distribution models developed by experts recruited by the European Commission say the pest could reach southern Europe across the Mediterranean or via the Sinai Peninsula and the Levant into Turkey and Greece.

“Butterflies like the Painted Lady can fly across the Sahara, so it is possible fall army worm could do the same,” University of Exeter biologist and commission experts Regan Early said.

“If it becomes resident in Morocco, it will be making migrations into the south of Spain, up through France as far as the UK.”

Hundreds of millions of dollars are spent every year in North and South America combating the pest, which has proved impossible to eradicate.

Europe is thought to be more vulnerable to fall army worm, however, because it has not embraced genetically modified crop strains, widespread in the Americas, that have a natural immunity to the pest.

The destructive nature of the caterpillar on Europe’s doorstep has been all too evident in the shrivelled maize fields of Africa.

Pulling back the leaves on a damaged stalk on his maize plantation near the town of Vihiga in western Kenya, Wycliffe Ngoda pointed to the culprit, frantically burrowing deeper into the ear in its bid to escape. It ruined much of his crop last year and has returned this season.

He lost more than half of his maize, his chief supply of food for his family.

“We were taken unawares. It was something we had not encountered before. The attack was very fast and furious.

“In a short while, huge swathes of land had been eaten.” Last year Kenya lost 250 000ha of maize, more than a fifth of a crop on which much of its population depends for sustenance.

Many African countries lost as much as half of their maize crops and suffered similar damage to other staples such as sorghum.

African farmers may have lost the equivalent of more than R170-billion as a result of the pest, according to experts.

“It is one of the deadliest crop pests in the world,” Boddupalli Prasanna, director of the Global Maize Programme at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre, said.

“It attacks several crop species, not just maize. Each female moth can lay 1 000 to 1 500 eggs. It is one of the biggest invasions Africa has ever experienced.”

So severe is the growing crisis that the US has warned that progress in eradicating hunger and poverty in Africa could be reversed because of the invasion.

“The pest has the potential to put hundreds of million at risk of hunger,” head of the US government global fall army worm task force, Regina Eddy, said.

Scientists say Africa, like Europe, will have to rethink its opposition to genetically modified crops.

In sub-Saharan Africa only South Africa allows the commercial planting of transgenic crops.

“When maize is threatened food security is threatened,” Paul Ngaruiya, lead analyst at Kenya’s Pest Control Products Board said. “When there is no maize, there is no food.” – The Daily Telegraph

‘ The attack was very fast and furious. In a short while huge swathes of lands had been eaten