THE country has been hit by an outbreak of the African armyworm, the worst in the last two decades and has put the national food security under threat.
The African Armyworm, primarily affecting cereal crops like maize, millet, sorghum, and wheat, significantly damages crops by feeding on leaves, stems, and reproductive parts of the plant, leading to defoliation and severe yield losses when infestations are large; essentially, the larvae eat large quantities of foliage, sometimes leaving only the plant’s main stem, which can result in complete crop destruction in severe cases.