Ghanian farmers have been asked to weary of Fall Armyworm (FAW) infestation. Mr. Prosper Mensah, the Yendi Municipal Agricultural Extension Officer advised farmers to check on the early signs or symptoms to avoid produce loss.
Mr Mensah gave the advice when he educated 20 Farmer Representatives on farming practices of Yendi Multi-stakeholder Committee third Quarterly meeting organized by Tropenbos Ghana, one of the partners of Research for Development and Innovation Agriculture and Learning (ReDIAL) Project funded by European Union (EU) at Yendi in the Northern Region.
The Fall Armyworm are known to destroy a lot of crops within hours. Early stages of infestation, include; eggs on upper/lower surface of leaves, stems, non-plant materials and nearby vegetation. Mr. Prosper noted that eggs could be cream, green or brown in and they were usually covered with anal hairs which were white in colour giving it mouldy appearance.
Government free Armyworm Chemicals
He further observed that after hatching young caterpillars (1stinstar) feed superficially on the leaves resulting in semitransparent patches on the leaves and FAW was sensitive to insecticide at that stage therefore susceptible to control at that stage.
On infestation on mature plants, he said the caterpillar fed on developing tassel of mature plant thereby reducing pollination and yield and advised them to be alert-scout the fields regularly and take control action as soon as any early signs and symptoms were seen and contact any Agriculture Office for advice and appropriate Management measures.
The Extension Officer asked the farmers to go for the government free Armyworm Chemicals and educated them on the method of the application of the chemical to enhance high and quality yield to meet standard demands.
“The Yendi Municipality had 28 registered agro input dealers assigned with NABCO Officials from Department of Agriculture to keep records on sales. New prices of NPK and UREA were NPK GH¢53.00 instead of the old price of GH¢48.00 and UREA GH¢50.00 instead of GH¢45.00. We are urging the farmers to take note and purchase them from the registered dealers at the approved price,” said Mr. Mensah.
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