Famine looms in the Akatsi North district of the Volta Region as farmers are battling an armyworm infestation on their farms.
About six acres of maize and cassava farms have already been destroyed in three communities within the last 24 hours.
The occurrence has crippled the hopes of these farmers who depend solely on their farms, their only source of livelihood, to support their families.
The worms which were first seen in Fiavi-Sanyi are quickly spreading to other communities like a wildfire. Farmers in Ave – Xevi and Atiglime have also raised an alarm of armyworms invading their farms.
A farmer at Fiavi-Sanyi, Ahetor Wisdom Ametefe suffered the shock of his life when he visited the two-acre maize farm Thursday morning and realized virtually everything on the farm had been consumed by the worms.
“I came here in the morning and realized the whole farm had varnished, I checked and saw the worms around. I quickly went for a pesticide and sprayed the farm and mine which is at the other end,” he told Joy News.
“The worms consumed everything on the farm and are spreading to neighboring farms. If care is not taken we won’t have any harvest this farming season”, he lamented.
However, due to the swift intervention of the district assembly, other farms in the area have been saved. The Assembly together with the Zoomlion Ghana Limited mobilized some pesticides and logistics to spray farms in the affected areas to rid them of the armyworms completely.
The Assembly has directed all Assembly members to send a message to communities in their respective jurisdiction to put farmers on the alert.
The District Chief Executive, James Gunu indicated that the Assembly has already put together a compensation package for the victims of the armyworms infestation.
“The assembly will plow the farmlands for those affected, give them seed in addition to some money from the assembly’s Local Development Fund to compensate and help them replant as quickly as possible”, he said.
Mr Gunu who lamented bitterly about the farmers lost noted, “we will ensure that it doesn’t occur again, we will give pesticides to the farmers to guard their farms in the next farming season.”
The Volta Regional Coordinator of the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO), Samuel Myles Bakar cautioned farmers in the area to be extra vigilant and endeavor to keep their farms tidy to prevent the worms from breeding on their farms.
Armyworm is part of the order of Lepidoptera and is the larval (see caterpillar) life stage of a fall armyworm moth. It is regarded as a pest and can wreak havoc with crops if left to multiply. Its name is derived from its feeding habits.
Armyworms are active during the evening, they eat anything green in sight and are said to multiply at a fast rate.
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