As part of this, it has intensified the engagement with farmers to educate them on ways to help reduce the destruction of food crops by armyworms.

[contextly_sidebar id=”E9oYefJF6Uw6RHmxznyZoOfBWOkQTlt0″]It has also held a day’s workshop to train 35 extension officers, national service personnel and other auxiliary staff of the Ministry to fight future infestations.

The Municipal Officer in charge of Plant Protection and Regulatory Services, David Obeng Dauda, underlined the need to strengthen the skills and capacity of extension officers to deal with the pests.

They usually lay their eggs beneath the leaves of plants to avoid detection, and he said that was why it was important to aid farmers to do proper and thorough inspection of the leaves.

He added that the inspection should be done seven days after planting, to verify if there was a pest infestation for early application of chemicals.

Farmers with smaller farms could crash the eggs after wrapping their hands with polythene bag as a first measure before they sought help from the extension officers.

He advised those with large acres of farmland to immediately report any detection of the worms to the MoFA office for prompt action.

He reminded the extension officers to teach farmers on the safe use of chemicals  and the right dosage to achieve maximum outcomes.

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Source: GNA

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According to him, some farmers do not report cases of the invasion on their farms on the onset for the necessary action to be taken.

He said the situation has led to the continuous spread of the outbreak and the seeming difficulty in controlling it.

Many farmlands in the country have been devastated by the invasion of fall army worms.

Regions that have been affected by the development are the Upper East, Volta, Upper West, Brong Ahafo and Northern regions.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, the government has made provision for chemicals and experts to control the situation on the affected farms but needed farmers to report their situation to enable government assist them.

“The problem is farmers not report because we are ready with chemicals. People have been trained and ready so if they do not report to them, we may not know that you have a problem. They shouldn’t sit in their villages and complain, they should report the cases,” Mr. Quaitoo said.

Meanwhile, some farmers have lamented that they are unable to access chemicals from the government to help them curtail the armyworm outbreak.

This is despite government claims that the situation is being brought under control with the distribution of the adequate chemicals to all affected areas.

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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