The Project Manager, TELA Maize Project, Dr Sylvester Oikeh has said if not properly managed, Nigeria and other African countries would be losing over 20 million metric tons of maize to Armyworm attack annually.
Dr Oikeh, while speaking with journalists at National Agricultural Extension Research Liason Services (NAERLS) said within a year of arriving in Africa from America, Armyworm had devastated maize worth over $2.6 billion in 12 countries.
“There is a problem of drought which we are familiar with. There is a problem of insect pest as well. What normally happens when there is drought, the insect attack also increases.
“And so Africa as a continent is regarded as a drought-prone continent because 3 out of the global drought events have taken place in Africa. Then we also have the problem of insect pests. The insect called stem borer. It has been there with us, and we have been managing it. But unfortunately, a new pest came out in 2016 and it called Fall Armyworm. It is devastating maize all over Africa.
“For example, within a year of arriving in Africa from America, it devastated maize with the tune of $2.6billion to almost $6 billion of maize in 12 countries”, he said.
He further noted “in Nigeria the study by FAO showed that with 2016 to 2017, $270 million dollars of food crop was consumed in Abia, Ekiti, Oyo and Ondo states.
ALSO READ: Court remands 2 friends for unlawful possession of cannabis
“Imagine 270 million dollars of crops consumed by this pest within a year. So people are saying if Africa doesn’t take action, Africa is going to lose 20 million metric tonnes of maize, equivalent to feed 100 million people. This means half of our population will suffer starvation and food deficiency. Knowing how important maize is in Africa, it is a big threat on food security.
Dr Oikeh, therefore, said TELA Maize which was genetically modified and adopted by some African countries, is drought tolerant, and have the capacity to resist attacks from Armyworm.
“So in getting that solution, we have found maize variety that has been genetically modified to have an inbuilt protection against this pest. So the project I am coordinating here is a TELA Maize Project.
“It is a coordination of public-private partnership project that is addressing the problem of developing maize that is tolerant to drought and at the same time has protection against the pest called Fall Armyworm.
“We are trying to address the problem of drought because when there is no rain, maize is one of the most sensitive crops to drought. Anyone who grows maize, the moment there is no rain, the crops get devastated if drought comes when the maize is about to flower.
“We also realized that this pest Fall Armyworm that came in 2016 is even worse than other pests and Africa is losing. We said let’s look for solution because climate change is affecting our maize production.
“We have been running the project for more than seven years in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Mozambique and South Africa and Nigeria has just joined,” he added.
Dr Oikeh explained that one bad thing about the Armyworm is that, it is very prolific in laying eggs and hatching, within a night, it covers hundreds of kilometres.
“To manage it, what we advocate integrated pest management. Because there is no single silver bullet that can solve it. One of the components to solve it is using the Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt). Other countries like South Africa have adopted this for the past 20 years,” he added.
and then