The Kaduna State Government, on Saturday said it had contained the ‘Stem-borer worm’ scourge destroying stems and leaves of irrigated maize in the state.
Malam Dahiru Abdullahi, the Information Officer of the state Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Kaduna.
NAN recalls that the outbreak of the Stem-borer worms reportedly affected Maize irrigated farms in many states including Kaduna at the beginning of the 2017 dry season farming.
Abdullahi, who confirmed that the disease outbreak had affected many irrigated maize farms, however, said it had been contained by Extension Services Staff and the farmers themselves.
He said most farmers had been trained on measures to control the disease during an outbreak in the 2016 dry season farming in the state.
“So, this year’s outbreak was easily curtailed as a result of intensive training on the application of pesticides against the disease when it was reported during dry season farming in 2016.”
“When the Kaduna Agriculture Development Programme (KADP) team in Maigana Zone (Northern Kaduna) visited some affected farms, the extension officers discovered that most of the farmers controlled the disease affecting the crop by themselves,’’ Adbullahi said.
He said that the KADP officials were, however, not relenting to ensure that the worms were totally eradicated from maize farms to enhance food supply in the state.
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