Farmers in some communities in the Ashanti region are crying out for help as fall armyworms invade their farmlands destroying crops.
The development comes less than a year after government spent almost 13 million cedis to fight the pests.
In the Ashanti region, several communities in the Atwimah Nwabiagya district have been affected by the latest invasion of the pests.
Ultimate FM’s Isaac Bediako Justice who visited some of these farms and engaging affected farmers reported that most of the farms he visited had been ravaged by the worms.
“All my maize have been destroyed by these worms. I don’t know how to fight them and I am calling on government to help me save my farm,” a farmer told Bediako.
Another farmer called on the president to intervene immediately or they risk losing all their hard work to the worms.
The fall armyworms entered Ghana in 2016 and wreaked havoc in 2017.
In January this year, the Director of Pest and Diseases Management of Plant Protection and Regulatory Services Directorate of the Ministry of Agriculture, Mr. Ebenezer Aboagye disclosed that fall armyworm which has destroyed large tracts of farms in the country cannot leave Ghana as they have come to stay.
Mr Aboagye at a media sensitization forum on the fall armyworm for some selected media houses from Brong Ahafo, Eastern and Ashanti regions in Kumasi said the worms dwindled during certain times in their country of origin but in Ghana, they flourished all year round because conditions were favourable.
He explained that the Ministry was currently working on various natural and unnatural means to deal with the worms.
The nocturnal worms which travel 100 kilometres a night and originated from the Americas, can now survive on 80 plants in Ghana.
Source: Ghana/Starrfmonline.com/103.5FM
