Small-scale farmers cling to hope that a dry winter will exterminate armyworm
Small-scale farmers are pinning their hopes on the dry winter season to exterminate the fall armyworm that has almost destroyed their entire crops‚ leaving behind only barren stalks. The armyworms marched into Hendrik Swanepoel’s farm in January and left devastation. With at least 80% of his crops eaten by the voracious larval pest‚ a Pretoria North maize farmer has cut his losses and used the infested crop to feed his cattle as he battles to find an effective pesticide. He normally sells 15‚000 dozen green mielies per harvest‚ but this past season he barely harvested 1‚000 dozen. "I cannot pay my staff. I could not even buy a tank of diesel. I am still struggling to get rid of the worms‚ as we speak. The moths are gone but the actual big worms are still there. I hope they will not survive winter. I am scared to take the risk and plant again‚" Swanepoel said. He said forking out thousands of rands for a pesticide was unhelpful when neighbouring farms are untreated as the worms would...
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