Armyworms eat up 14,000 hectares of farm

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The fall armyworm infestation has affected 112,000 hectares of farms across the country, out of which 14,000 hectares have been totally destroyed, George Oduro, a Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture, has revealed.
According to him, the government of Ghana has adopted the best methods of containing the problem to avert further destruction of farms.
Speaking in an interview with Chief Jerry Forson, host of Ghana Yensom on Accra100.5FM on Thursday July 13, Mr Oduro said: “The affected acres across the country is 112,000 hectares, out of that 14,000 hectares have been destroyed by the worms.
“We have dispatched the insecticides to every district capital across the country. Every farmer who experiences the armyworm infestation should quickly go to the district assembly for the insecticides. At the moment we are managing the situation in such a way that they cannot spread further.”
He added: “You can’t eradicate the fall armyworm; all you can do is to manage it. The Brazilian government during an FAO conference in Rome last mentioned that they have treated this problem for the past 35 years and so the Government of Ghana is liaising with the Brazilian authorities to tap into their experiences in managing this problem.
“We will adopt the approach of the Brazilians to this problem in the last 35 years to also treat ours here in Ghana.”