Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development has said it is striving to find permanent means to end the outbreak of the fall army worms that have destroyed an estimated 140 000 hectares of crops.
The ministry, which is currently holding sensitisation meetings across the country, said in Blantyre yesterday it was optimistic that combined efforts with developmental partners and other stakeholders will result in eradicating the army worms in the next farming season.
working tirelessly
Speaking during a Southern Region sensitisation workshop in Blantyre, Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development Aggrey Masi said his ministry is acting aggressively to ensure success towards getting rid of the army worms which he described as having negatively affected the farming season.
He said: “We are working tirelessly towards addressing this problem.”
Controller of Agriculture, Extension and Technical Services in the ministry, Albert Changaya, echoed the minister’s sentiments, saying they were trying to look at the best way possible to control the army worms.
In the proposed 2017/18 National Budget, government has allocated K135 million towards the fight against the army worms, with donors pumping in about K500 million outside the budgetary allocation for the cause. n
