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Agriculture Reporter 

HUNDREDS of farmers in Mbire district of Mashonaland Central can now breathe a sigh of relief following the successful containment of an African Armyworm outbreak that recently saw 412, 8 hectares of maize and sorghum being affected. 

At least 572 farmers were affected by the outbreak that was reported in Kasuo Ward 6 in the district. Besides affecting maize and sorghum, the armyworm pest also hit 435 hectares of pastures threatening to bring to naught the efforts of 286 livestock farmers with the situation only getting under control after the swift response of the province in availing control chemicals.

Provincial Agritex officer Mr Misheck Chitokomere remained optimistic, saying the affected crops would recover adding that they were closely monitoring the situation in Mbire and other districts. 

“The situation is under control. We received control chemicals early for spraying. The crop should recover.

“Farmers must regularly scout their fields and report their findings. They must use carbaryl only on field crops and not pastures,” observed Mr Chitokomere.

He appealed for more carbaryl stocks at district level to make it possible for them to timeously respond and control possible outbreaks of the African armyworm and save crops, as the pest can cause severe damage within a short space of time.

The 20 kilogrammes of carbaryl, which the plant quarantine team brought in response to the armyworm outbreak on December 27 was inadequate to effectively service the affected area, said Mr Chitokomere.

Plant Quarantine teams are therefore set to bring more chemicals for demonstrations and spraying on affected crops.

Staff and farmer training on identification, control and reporting procedures should be prioritised and resuscitated as soon as possible in all the wards so that outbreaks are spotted and controlled before they get out of hand, Mr Chitokomere said.