ARMY WORMS RAVAGE CENTRAL PROVINCE

ABOUT 1,845 hectares of maize crop has been destroyed by the fall army worms in Central Province with Kapiri Mposhi District as the most affected, Central Province Principal Agriculture Officer Jane Moonga has confirmed.

Speaking to The Scoop, Ms Moonga said Kapiri Mposhi District was the most affected and recorded about 47.1 percent of pest infestation.

“Maize fields in Central Province have been infested with fall army worms and 1,845 hectares have been destroyed by the devastating pests. We call on the farmers to be on guard and take ownership of their fields to prevent further crop losses,” she said.

“Central Province has 10 districts and out of the 10 districts, we have 287 camps and in these camps 85 agriculture camps are affected by the fall army worm infestation,” Ms. Moonga said.

She said the most affected districts were Kapiri Mposhi with 47.16 percentage of infestation and Mumbwa with 41.4 percentage of infestation.

“As a province, the total area affected is 1845 hectares and farmers only discovered that their fields were infested after a huge damage was already made, making their efforts of spraying in vain,” she said.

She said farmers should always inspect their fields to ensure that they were pests free so as to avoid field attacks of pests which affect productivity.

“We will hereby engage the farmers to see how best their fields can be sprayed so that other fields in the province are not affected by this infestation. Farmers are also advised to report immediately to the agriculture officers once they see any pests in their fields so that they are assisted as soon as possible,” she said.

She said fall army worms were not pests to be taken lightly as they destroyed many crops in a short period of time.

“Do not relax and wait until you see the entire field being eaten up. Farmers should report immediately so that we inspect their fields and safeguard their crops from further damage,” she said.