A suspected outbreak of armyworm has spread to Namibia and Mozambique and is causing "considerable crop damage" in southern Africa, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said on Friday. Suspected outbreaks have already occurred in Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi and SA. They follow a crippling El Niño-triggered drought which scorched much of the region last year, hitting crop production and leaving millions in need of food aid. Countries with confirmed outbreaks can face import bans on agricultural products because the armyworm is classified as a quarantine pest, which can cause extensive damage to crops and has a preference for maize, the regional staple. The FAO said an emergency meeting would be held in Harare from February 14 to 16 to shape co-ordinated emergency responses to the armyworm threat and other potential hazards, such as the spread of avian flu, which has been detected in other African regions. In Malawi, where 6.5-million people, more than a third of the populati...
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