Armyworm threatens bumper harvest forecast
Pauline Dikuelo | Friday March 31, 2017 16:14
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.
A bumper harvest was expected this year due to the above average rainfall experienced this season. According to the minister, even though they had the resources and the skills to control the situation immediately, the ministry could only watch the situation get worse due to the heavy rains as they could not spray the yields. He said that they were able to control the situation by deploying more officers immediately after the rain stopped.
“The situation nearly got out of control, but we acted with our teams to control the issue by issuing medication and sprayed the farmers’ yields,” he said. Further the minister urged local farmers to adopt new technology as part of their farming lives noting that it can help make their farming easier.
Earlier this year, the Botswana Millers Association issued an advisory to look out for the fall armyworm noting that the new season harvest is under threat of infestation by what is suspected to be the fall armyworm, which was then reported to be rampant in Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi and the Limpopo, Free State and North West areas in South Africa.
The association’s chairman, Nkosi Mwaba noted that this is a new type of worm in South Africa and the region, which originates from the United States adding that it is difficult to tell at this stage to what extent it may affect the maize crop. In the event of a surplus, he said they might see excess white maize being shifted to animal feed.
He said Botswana would receive its full supply of maize from South Africa in this scenario, noting that the country consumes just over 100,000 tonnes of maize per annum.