Fall armyworm has spread to more than 40 per cent of the land under maize in Kenya, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) warned, The Star reported. The pest is estimated to destroy up to 30 per cent of the crop in affected areas. That exposes maize farmers to heavy losses and threatens efforts to grow more food.
The pest originated in the Americas. FAO says it has spread to more than 80 countries across Africa, Asia, the Pacific and Europe. It has cut maize yields by up to 73 per cent and caused an estimated $9.4 billion in damage across Africa.
FAO pest management expert George Ong'amo spoke at Mabanga Agricultural Training Centre in Bungoma county. The event marked the close of a three-year project on sustainable management of the pest. "Fall armyworm is a serious problem in the country and it is still spreading," he said. He added that losses linked to the infestation are estimated at around 30 per cent.
Ong'amo said fall armyworm was first reported in Kenya in 2017. Since then, many farmers have struggled to identify and control it. He said some turned to the wrong pesticides or applied them poorly, which helped the pest build resistance. He urged farmers trained on the project's demonstration fields to adopt the new methods and share them with other farming communities.
The project was supported by the FAO-China South-South Cooperation Programme. It taught farmers practical, environmentally friendly ways to spot, monitor and control the pest through demonstration fields and farmer field schools. FAO agricultural officer Maged Elkahky said Kenya and Ghana were chosen to test pest control methods in different agro-ecological zones. He said Kenya was picked partly because of its heavy dependence on maize.
Elkahky said the project focused on stronger surveillance, monitoring and early warning. The aim is to help farmers catch infestations before they cause wide damage. He said the methods also seek to cut reliance on chemicals. "Most of our focus goes towards having practices that are economically viable and at the same time, do not harm human health and the environment," he said.
Bungoma's chief officer for Agriculture and Irrigation, Magrina Mayama, said farmers are now better at identifying and managing the pest. She said they can now tell it apart from other maize pests such as the maize stalk borer. With the project ending, FAO officials urged farmers to scale up the methods and pass them on to others.