THE Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) says the fall armyworms invasion has been contained throughout the country.
Ebenezer Aboagye, Acting Director of Plant Protection and Regulatory Services Directorate (PPRSD) of MoFA, told The Finder that all affected farms have been sprayed.
According to him, adequate chemicals have been dispatched to all the 10 regions with trained spraying gangs.
All 10 regions have been affected with farmers losing hundreds of thousands of Cedis of investment.
The pests were detected, last year, and had since rapidly spread, wrecking havoc on crops.
The green-striped caterpillar larvae of moths are very destructive because they eat the reproductive parts of the plant and leaves.
So far, a little over 21,000 hectares of farms have been affected.
Aboagye stated that trained spraying gangs are on standby in the three regions of the north where the major season is about starting.
He noted that the situation had been contained in farms by river banks and irrigated farms in the three northern regions where the fall armyworms were reported have been sprayed.
Aboagye stated that farmers and MoFA officials, with support from USAID, are ready for the major farming season in the three regions of the north.
He said MoFA has deployed a rapid assessment team to affected areas to assess the impact of the invasion of the fall armyworms.
According to him, the team would record actual fields infected, the hectares destroyed as well as hectares recovered after spraying.
He disclosed that when all is well in the three regions of the north, the spraying gangs would move to the south to assist farmers in affected areas to spray again before the minor season planting commences.
Aboagye said affected areas would be sprayed as much as three times to ensure that the fall armyworms are completed destroyed.
GAWU calls for state of emergency
Meanwhile, General Secretary of the General Agricultural Workers’ Union (GAWU) of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Mr Edward Kareweh, has stated that it will be critical and timely for government to declare a state of emergency to marshal resources to appropriately fight the infestation of fall armyworms in the country.
In an interview with The Finder, he opined that the fall armyworms that have migrated from the Caribbean’s to Ghana seem to be in their comfort zones as the country seemed not to be finding solutions in getting rid of them.
Seed imports not cause of fall armyworms
Aboagye debunked reports in the media suggesting that importing seeds from Burkina Faso, which is heavily invested with fall armyworms, was responsible for the invasion in Ghana.
Ghana imports 3,600 metric tonnes of seeds from Burnika Faso
Ghana is importing 1,600 metric tonnes of maize seeds, 1,000 metric tonnes of Sorghum seeds and 1,000 metric tonnes of rice seeds from Burkina Faso.
According to him, fall armyworm is not a seed-borne worm or a storage pest and, therefore, could not be imported into Ghana through seed imports.
He explained that the government’s ‘Planting for Food and Jobs’ programme has led to increased demand for seeds way above what is available in Ghana, hence the need to import seeds.
He explained all seeds imported into the country are thoroughly scrutinised by the Plant Protection and Regulatory Services Directorate (PPRSD).
Aboagye said PPRSD conducts pest risk analysis to determine whether the seeds would pose any threat such as pest or disease.
“And when the seed is found safe and good, it is imported and samples taken again to laboratory for various analysis”, he added.
He emphasised that the seeds are only distributed to farmer after it had been declared safe and good.
Aboagye gave the assurance that when the next consignment of seeds being imported from Burkina Faso arrive next week, samples will, again, be sent to laboratory for various analysis before distribution to farmers.
Government released an amount of GH₵15 million for the control and management of the fall armyworm (FAW) infestation of farms.
Part of the funds was used to purchase pesticides and the provision of logistics for the Task Force that is combating the worms and minimising the level of infestation.
The Finder