Gwanda, Zimbabwe — After plenty of rain, Isaac Siziba’s maize fields looked set for a bumper harvest this season, similar to the one he gathered in 2014, before Zimbabwe suffered a long and punishing drought. But in February armyworms invaded Siziba’s 4ha farm in Gwanda District and munched through his maize. Now he expects just one-fifth of the harvest he had counted on. "We were happy with the good rains this year, which means a bumper crop, but I am not sure anymore because of the worm," said the farmer, pointing to holes gnawed in the leaves of his tasselled maize plants. "I am disappointed," he admitted. "The pest is eating everything." Struggling farmers in Zimbabwe had been hopeful of finally getting a good harvest in March, following the first heavy rains in nearly three years. But a variety of new problems, from flooding in some regions to the arrival of a destructive Latin American armyworm, now threaten to cut harvests and expectations for recovery, the government and dev...
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