‘Army worm infestation contained’

The Minister of Agriculture, Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto, has given an assurance that the Fall Army Worm (FAW) infestation that has affected farms in nine regions has been contained.

He said the government invested GH¢16 million in insecticides and that spraying of the affected farms was currently underway.

Dr Akoto said already areas where the spraying had been undertaken were telling success stories of curtailment.

Infestation under control

Dr Akoto, who made this known last Saturday after visiting affected farms in the Ayensuano and the Suhum-Kraboa-Coaltar districts in the Eastern Region, stated that, “The infestation is under control and the Planting for Food and Jobs programme is on course to be achieved”.

Addressing a team of journalists who had accompanied him on the tour of the affected farms, he said, “You have seen at first-hand what is happening and what the farmers themselves are saying. We have contained the Fall Army Worm infestation and the Planting for Food and Jobs programme is on course.”

He said so far, the infestation had taken place in all the regions of the country, apart from the Volta Region, and that some 1,370 hectares of land had been affected, but expressed satisfaction about the timely intervention by the government to save the situation.

Supply of Kits

The Agriculture Minister said in addition to the supply of insecticides, farmers had also received spraying kits including protective clothing, while extension officers had been deployed to assist in the affected farms.

He assured the farmers that the ministry was doing everything possible to arrest the situation and that included a nationwide free spraying exercise that the government had commissioned to combat the infestation.

An affected farmer’s story

One of the affected farmers at Ayensuano, Mr Edward Ofori Boateng, told the Daily Graphic that at the onset, the pests appeared familiar so they resorted to the use of the pesticides they had applied in the past, but it did not yield any fruits.

“Thankfully, the government intervened under the Planting for Food and Jobs programme and now our hopes of reaping bumper harvests are high again,” he said.

Background

The minister of agriculture recently inaugurated a multi-disciplinary task force drawn from metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs), the private sector, as well as the country’s development partners, to manage the incidence of the FAW infestation in the country.

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