Kenyan Maize Farmers Raise Alarm As Armyworms Resurface

Kenyan maize farmers are set to go through another tough year as the fall armyworm strikes the crop again this season.

NAIROBI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 6th Apr, 2018 ) :Kenyan maize farmers are set to go through another tough year as the fall armyworm strikes the crop again this season. The pest, which was first detected in Kenya in March last year, contributed to decline in maize production, from over 40 million bags production a year to 32 million, according to the Ministry of Agriculture.

Farmers last year spent huge amounts of money fighting the pest with the government stepping in, helping to buy chemicals and spray the plants. While some succeeded in eliminating the pest that first struck in the breadbasket regions of western and Rift Valley before spreading to others in Nyanza, Eastern and central Kenya, others lost their entire crop.

Farmers had hoped to put the tough time behind them, but once again, the armyworm has started to attack the crop mainly in the maize producing regions of western and Rift Valley. A majority of farmers in the regions planted their crops early last month at the onset of the rains, and the plants are now about 30cm high.

"I am disappointed with the turn of events and this time the pest has started ravaging the crop so early," Samsom Ambuche, a farmer in Trans Nzoia, said on Friday. Ambuche planted his maize and beans on March 1, a day after the long rains season started and the crops have been doing well.

But as the farmer readied to top dress them with Calcium Ammonium Nitrate fertilizer mid this month, the pest has struck. Unlike last year when farmers and agricultural officers took time to report to authorities in the belief that they were fighting an ordinary pest, this time a number of them are using several channels including social media to raise alarm about the new invasion.

"This creature is back. We thought we had dealt with it conclusively but it has struck again. It is in western Kenya and the Rift Valley. An urgent solution is needed to save farmers from huge losses," Ambrose Kosgei, whose parents farm in the Rift Valley, tweeted on Thursday, tagging the Agriculture Cabinet Secretary and other research organizations in search for help.

Agriculture experts have, however, blamed farmers for the fresh invasion, noting some planted maize for the second season in September despite being cautioned against the move. Bernard Moina, an agricultural officer in Kitale, where some farmers have reported the invasion, said that planting the short rains crop gave the armyworm a lifeline as it found a host.

"Farmers should not have planted maize again having struggled with the pest for the better part of the year. The new maize crop became the host of the pest until this planting season," said Moina.

Benson Andabwa, a farmer in Trans Nzoia, is among those who planted maize in September. He said he planted because he thought the pest had been fully eradicated. He harvested 35 bags from his three acres last year, but this year, things may be different as he is among those whose young crops have been attacked.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, the armyworm is a migratory pest, with the adult pest having a capacity to fly over 30km drifting through air current. "Fall armyworm is a ferocious feeder which upon invasion quickly destroys maize.

The caterpillar feeds on the outer foliage making large and ragged holes. Attack on maize at early vegetative stage can result into 100 percent loss if no control measures are taken," says the ministry in a note.

Scientists in Kenya have called for the use of Genetically Modified (GM) crops to boost the fight against emerging diseases like maize necrosis and pests like armyworm. "If we had adopted GM maize our scientists have been developing, we would not be struggling with armyworms.

GM maize has the ability to not only resist fall armyworms but also stem borer, according to our trials," Dr Felista Makina, a plant pathologist and a deputy director, crops section at the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organisation, said recently.