Gov't sets aside sh4.5b for army worm control

The Minister for Agriculture Animal Industry and Fisheries Vincent Sempijja has said the Government has set aside sh4.5b in the control of the army worm, a pest that have attacked sorghum maize among other crops in Uganda.

Sempijja said the pest was first detected in districts of Kayunga, Kasese and Bukedea in May and July 2016 but today, the pest has been confirmed in 54 districts in Uganda such as Kibaale, Kamwenge,Masindi, Nwoya among others.

"It has been confirmed in 54 districts across the country and continues to spread to other districts at a very high rate," said Sempijja adding: "Maize contributes to the livelihoods of over 3.6 million households (UBOS2014).Loss of maize as result of army warm will possibly lead to loss to the economy," he stated.

During press conference at Uganda Media Centre, Sempijja said task force with representation from the MAAIF, National Agricultural Research Organisation(NARO) , Uganda National Farmers' Federation among others have been constituted to develop action plans for effective management of the armyworm both in the short and long term.

"Technical committee comprising of NARO and MAAIF is in place to guide on implementation of pest outbreak management," he said.

The minister also told journalists that agriculture ministry and NARO have confirmed the damages in sorghum, maize, rice, Kikuyu grass, napia grass and sugar cane crops.

Sempijja said farmers must use a pesticide combination of lambda-Cyhalothrin (106/l) and Thiamethoxam (141/l) and Rocket at rate of 20-30mls in 15-20 litres of water for sustainable management.

He said the ministry has not compiled figures about the possible impact of the pest. However, he said countries that have been previously attacked by the worm have lost huge sums of money in control.

"Zambia spent $3,000,000 (sh11b) in an attempt to control the pest and Kenya has now set aside $1,000,000 (sh3.65b) for anticipated control of the pest," he stated.