ALL PROVINCES HIT
Sugarcane fears over worm outbreak
An outbreak of fall armyworms that has attacked maize plants might spread to sugarcane in KwaZulu-Natal, where a warm climate would help the pest survive through the year, the Agricultural Research Council said. The alien pest, confirmed in SA in February, has already spread to all nine provinces, including eastern KwaZulu-Natal, where the bulk of cane is grown. There are not yet any reports of infestations, Roger Price, manager at the council, said on Thursday. "We are very concerned that fall armyworms will get into the sugarcane along the KwaZulu-Natal coast, where it could persist in the warmer climatic conditions," he said. "My personal view is that the vast bulk of the commercial maize crop has not been damaged and that national food security is not currently at risk." The armyworms, which arrived in west Africa from the Americas early in 2016, spread south through Zambia and Zimbabwe before arriving in Africa’s biggest producer of maize. There were reports of the pest in Grey...
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