Outbreak of Fall Southern armyworm in Africa

The Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) on Friday announced the outbreak of Fall Southern armyworm (FSW) affecting agriculture in West and Central Africa.

Mr Micheal Kwame Afranie, the Assistant Regional Officer of Plant Protection and Regulatory of the Ministry stated that the FSW had currently been confirmed in Nigeria and Benin, which was causing serious damage to cassava and tomato farms in the two countries.

He said the FSW was destroying crops such as sorghum, rice, maize vegetables and could also be transferred to Ghana if proper control is not taken to prevent the new alien invasive pest identified.

Mr Afranie made the announcement during the Zonal Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) annual meeting held in Tamale to review the challenges in Agriculture sector in the country.

The event was organised by the Northern Ghana Governance Activity (NGGA) in collaboration with SEND-GHANA, which brought together participants made up of CSOs from the Northern, Upper East and the Upper West regions to strengthen responsive governance for improved agriculture development in the country.

He gave assurance that the MoFA was putting measures in place to prevent the FSW into Ghana.

According to Mr Chrys S.K. Pul, the Governance and the Advocacy Specialist of NGGA said the CSOs had the responsibility to make policy work to the benefit of the farmers through the demand for accountability from the government and other duty bearers in agricultural sector.

He said CSOs should participate in decentralization and agriculture development to enhance food security in the country.

The participants pledged their commitment to the task ahead and promised to adopt a collaborative approach guiding the agriculture development.

Source: GNA