Rwandese authorities on Friday revealed that an invasion by fall army worms had damaged 17 percent of its maize crop and the military had joined the fight to halt their spread.
The crop-devouring caterpillars are native to the Americas but have spread to African countries including Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, South Africa, Namibia, Mozambique, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda. Recently, Kenya also began investigating a possible outbreak.
The worms’ presence in Rwanda was confirmed in early March.
Reuters reports Telesphore Ndabamenye, head of crop production and food security at the Rwanda Agriculture Board, to say that the pests had damaged about 10,600 hectares of maize crop out a total 63,000.
“Rwanda is a small country … we risk seeing this pest spread to all maize farms,” he said.
Troops from the Rwandese military were on Friday deployed to fields to pick the worms off the maize crops.
“All our soldiers countrywide are trying to help clear these caterpillars off farms,” Rwandan army spokesman, René Ngendahimana, told Reuters.
The central African country produced about 900,000 metric tons of maize last year.
The plague of fall army worms has fuelled worries that some farmers could be left with nothing.
