Fall army worms destroy crops worth Sh3 billion

Fall army worms have destroyed Sh3 billion worth of crop, according to Migori Governor Okoth Obado.

The pest is known to mainly feed on maize, but it can also infest close to 100 other crops, including rice, wheat, sorghum and avocado.

“If you look at the damage that has been caused by the worm since its presence was detected in Kenya, we have lost over Sh3 billion. It is estimated that as a country we have lost between Sh3 billion and Sh5 billion as a result of crops being destroyed by the fall army worms,” said Mr Obado at a workshop at Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Services offices in Nairobi. 

According to Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mwangi Kiunjuri, so far Sh600 million has been used to fight the pest this season.

He said infestation and damage, with the ongoing heavy rains, could be high and widespread, but assured that the ministry was doing its best to minimise loss.

Mr Kiunjuri urged researchers not to focus on mitigating the army worm only during the maize's growth period.

“The fight on fall army worms should be a continuous one. After we deal with it throughout this season, we should then establish where it goes so that we can follow it up there and suppress it,” Kiunjuri said.

Farmers were advised to try a method called push-and-pull, which may not require a lot of effort to be put in place.

This involves farmers growing other crops that are repellant to the pests.

“For example, we are told that these pests do not like pyrethrum, so they run away from it. You can also plant Napier grass alongside the maize because as much as they like it, they cannot reproduce on it because once they lay their eggs there, they are destroyed,” Mr Kiunjuri said.

This method, according to International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology, can reduce the pests to about 40 or 30 per cent.

There are also fears that another species of the pest called the southern army worm may invade the country. This species infests cassava, tomatoes, amaranth, broccoli as well as maize.

Kiunjuri said the research department needs approximately Sh1 billion to investigate and come up with the required pesticides.

“We are seeing real danger, real disaster coming to our people, and we must be secure in terms of food availability," the CS said.