Outbreak of Fall Southern armyworm in Africa

By
Comfort Sena Fetrie, GNA

Tamale, June 22, GNA
– The Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) on Friday announced the outbreak
of Fall Southern armyworm (FSW) affecting agriculture in West and Central
Africa.

Mr Micheal Kwame
Afranie, the Assistant Regional Officer of Plant Protection and Regulatory of
the Ministry stated that the FSW had currently been confirmed in Nigeria and
Benin, which was causing serious damage to cassava and tomato farms in the two
countries.

He said the FSW was
destroying crops such as sorghum, rice, maize vegetables and could also be
transferred to Ghana if proper control is not taken to prevent the new alien
invasive pest identified.

Mr Afranie made the
announcement during the Zonal Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) annual meeting
held in Tamale to review the challenges in Agriculture sector in the country.

The event was
organised by the Northern Ghana Governance Activity (NGGA) in collaboration
with SEND-GHANA, which brought together participants made up of CSOs from the
Northern, Upper East and the Upper West regions to strengthen responsive
governance for improved agriculture development in the country.

He gave assurance
that the MoFA was putting measures in place to prevent the FSW into Ghana.

According to Mr
Chrys S.K. Pul, the Governance and the Advocacy Specialist of NGGA said the
CSOs had the responsibility to make policy work to the benefit of the farmers
through the demand for accountability from the government and other duty
bearers in agricultural sector.

He said CSOs should
participate in decentralization and agriculture development to enhance food
security in the country.

The participants
pledged their commitment to the task ahead and promised to adopt a
collaborative approach guiding the agriculture development.

GNA