South African maize crops face the threat of infestation from the Fall Army Worm that has already wreaked havoc in Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) has received a diagnostic report from the Agricultural Research Council, Plant Protection Research Institute (ARC PPRI) to confirm that the Fall Army Worm was positively identified from samples collected in the Limpopo Province.
The samples were jointly collected by scientists from the ARC Grain Institute and the North West University. These were caterpillars that had to pupate and emerge as moths before a positive identification could be done.
Fall Army Worm (FAW) is a quarantine pest for South Africa which has a wide host range and can affect crops such as maize, sorghum, soybeans, groundnuts and potatoes. This pest is a good flyer and cannot be contained in a specific area.
The South African Emergency Plant Pest Response Plan, which deals with new pest detections in South Africa, has been activated, with actions to be taken depending on the pest, the extent of the spread and extent of the damage.
Now that there is a positive identification, DAFF will continue with assessment of spread and damage, awareness actions to provide farmers with accurate technical information and control options.
Pheromone traps will be imported into South Africa to determine the exact extent of the spread and the specific strain of FAW present in South Africa. Diagnostic support has been increased to deal the bulk of sample identification.
DAFF is working closely with Provincial Departments of Agriculture and farmers to assess damage on farm level, to determine other hosts affected and to implement roadshows where farming communities are made aware of the pest.
GrainSA reports that, since the FAW is a new pest to South Africa, no pesticide has been registered to be used against it. A process of emergency registration of agricultural chemicals is initiated for urgent registration.
Chemical suppliers are therefore encouraged to apply for emergency registration of agricultural chemicals to be used on maize and other host plants against Spodoptera frugiperda. An interim control program aimed to assist farmers with a guide for pesticide use as an emergency measure is communicated to various role players and it will be available on the DAFF web site.
Meanwhile, the United Nations has scheduled an emergency meeting into the spread of a dangerous insect pest in southern Africa. The UN agency, the Food and Agriculture Organization, will meet in Harare on February 14-16 over an emergency response to the armyworm outbreak.
So far, damage has been reported in parts of northern areas such as Limpopo and North West Province, mainly on sweetcorn and on white maize planted for seed production. However, there is fear is that the moth may spread, and become a migratory pest similarly to the African armyworm and may migrate in large numbers form one area to another causing great damage.
One concern is that while South African producers, who use genetically modified seed for some 85% of domestic corn output, have tried and tested methods for the controlling endemic African armyworm, but these may not work on the fall armyworm.
South Africa has looked on track for a substantial recovery in corn output from last season’s drought-affected levels, with Agbiz last week predicting a crop of 11,9-million tonnes, an increase of nearly 60% year on year, and sufficient to produce a comfortable export surplus.
