South African corn farms are suffering “extensive” damage from what is definetly an alien caterpillar that destroyed fields in other countries in the area, as per the government.
While the us government is yet to make sure that the pest since the fall armyworm that’s indigenous to the Americas and arrived at Africa last year, the caterpillar may pose a severe threat to output of the staple food, the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said within the e-mailed statement on Wednesday.
The pest that is the fall armyworm has long been reported from the northern Limpopo and North West provinces, the department said. North West plus the central Free State province make up the bulk of output in Africa’s biggest corn producer.
“If this pest is very the fall armyworm, it may be disastrous, particularly to maize production,” the department said, using another term for corn.
Zambia, Malawi and Zimbabwe already suffered extensive damage to tens of thousands of hectares of mainly corn fields. The arrival from the alien species threatens to hurt output as southern Africa is recovering from its worst drought in many more than 35 years, even while rainfall improves.?
South Africa could increase its corn crop to not less than 11.9 million metric tons at the moment from 7.5 million tons, the Agricultural Business Chamber said a few weeks ago. White corn for delivery in March, one of the most active contract, rose by 3.6%, the most since October, to R2 869 ($212) per ton on Wednesday.
? 2017 Bloomberg
