Armyworm threatens bumper harvest forecast

In an interview with BusinessWeek, the minister confirmed that an outbreak of the crop damaging worm was discovered at the beginning of the year in the southern parts of the country. The minister, however, said it was not easy for the ministry to control the situation because of the heavy rains, which have caused the worm to spread thus causing more damage to the yields.

“We had armyworm trouble which affected a significant proportion of the harvest and the situation nearly got out of control due to the heavy rains.  At that time weeding and fighting with the pest was difficult as there was also a lot of leaching and waterlogging,” he said.