Invasion of fall armyworms ravages maize crops in 20 African countries
▻https://www.ft.com/content/93222f52-2b46-11e7-9ec8-168383da43b7 #Africa #Afrique #agriculture
No known predator, chemicals ineffective, food shortages expected, will spread to Europe.
Armyworm invasion threatening southern Africa’s crops
▻https://www.yahoo.com/news/armyworm-invasion-threatening-southern-africas-crops-170842090.html
HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — An invasion of armyworms is stripping southern Africa of key food crops and could spread to other parts of the continent, experts warned Tuesday at an emergency meeting of 16 African nations.
South Africa, Zimbabwe, Malawi and Zambia are among the countries where the fall armyworm has invaded fields of maize, a staple crop throughout the region.
The fall armyworm is a new threat in southern Africa. It is mostly associated with the Americas, where it has been since 1957, said David Phiri, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization coordinator for the region.
The pest is devastating to crops and so far impossible to eradicate.
Armyworm invasion destroys crops in southern Africa - CNN.com
▻http://edition.cnn.com/2017/01/24/africa/armyworm-invasion-africa/index.html
Hard to kill
The fall armyworms moths are born survivors, according to Georg Goergen, an entomologist at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture who is a long-time researcher of the species.
“This species is the number one pest of the Americas,” he says. “We saw it last year in Nigeria and Togo and it has spread much faster than expected.”
In North America the species migrates over huge distances, from Florida in the South to Canada in the North, and Goergen expects them to spread further in Africa.
“The next step will be countries such as Kenya and Tanzania... I don’t know if it can cross the Sahara.”
The entomologist is involved with research efforts to find an effective pesticide to control the caterpillars. He says the existing chemicals being used in Africa are unlikely to succeed.
In the US, genetically modified crops have been used to combat them, although they have developed defences.
As the armyworm crisis deepens, the search for a solution is at risk of becoming desperate.
#Madagascar drought: 330,000 people ’one step from famine’, UN warns | Global development | The Guardian
▻https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2016/nov/25/madagascar-drought-330000-one-step-from-famine-un-food-and-agriculture-
The severe drought afflicting southern Madagascar has left 330,000 people on the brink of famine, a senior UN official has warned.
Three successive years of failed rains have left the island nation wrestling with crop failure and a chronic lack of food and clean drinking water, with agencies warning last month that nearly 850,000 people are experiencing “alarming” hunger levels.
“Three hundred and thirty thousand are on the verge of a food security catastrophe, next step being famine,” said Dominique Burgeon, director of emergencies and rehabilitation at the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).
“People go from one lean season to the next, resorting to negative coping strategies. People are eating anything to fill their stomachs, selling most of their belongings, cattle and land. It shows the severity of the situation and the need for us to act.”
▻https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2016/nov/27/southern-africa-climate-change-drought-crop-failure
Malawi is one of seven southern African countries on the brink of starvation and in a situation that the UN says needs requires immediate action.
It has been devastated by a combination of a long drought caused by a strong El Niño weather cycle and climate change. Successive maize harvests have failed, leaving communities there and in Zambia, Congo, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and elsewhere, desperate for food.
Madagascar is the most critical, said David Phiri, UN food and agriculture coordinator based in Harare, Zimbabawe.
“Hundreds of thousands of people are on the brink of famine. We may see deaths there from starvation. People appear to have no food or money. The cost of inaction or further delaying our response is too ghastly to contemplate. It needs immediate action,” he warned.