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    Fall armyworm invasion creates massive communications challenge in Africa

    An invasive species is threatening to wipe out huge swaths of staple crops across the continent. This would heighten food insecurity at a time when many countries are already facing severe challenges to feed their populations. Join Devex on the ground as we capture photo and video of the event heightening food insecurity.

    By Sara Jerving // 18 May 2018
    Explore our Multimedia feature: Fall Armyworm invasion creates massive communications challenge in Africa

    At a time when many countries are facing severe challenges to feed their populations, an invasive species is threatening to wipe out huge swaths of staple crops across the continent.

    Join Devex on the ground as we capture photo and video of the event heightening food insecurity.

    The attack last year was “fast and furious,” said 65-year old Kenyan farmer Wycliffe Ngodu. All of a sudden, his maize crop was riddled with holes and crawling with worms. It was like nothing he had seen in his lifetime working as a farmer. The worms killed about half his crop; this year they have come back for more.

    Fall armyworm, an invasive species of moth, was first detected on the African continent in 2016. Since then, it has quickly spread to nearly all of sub-Saharan Africa. The moth reproduces fast and can travel long distances. A moth can fly more than 300 miles before landing and laying eggs — which hatch into the damaging larvae worms.

    The worms threaten to wipe out huge swaths of maize crops across the continent, a major staple in Africa, among other crops. At a time when many countries are already facing severe challenges to feed their populations, this would only heighten food insecurity. Damages from the armyworm could reach as high as an estimated $6.2 billion per year in Africa.

    How to respond to invasive pests

    Damages from the fall armyworm could reach as high as an estimated $6.2 billion per year in Sub-Saharan Africa. Read the full story: dvx.cm/Worm

    Posted by Devex on Wednesday, May 9, 2018
    Via Facebook

    The invasion of the fall armyworm caught African farmers off guard, with many lacking the knowledge to rid their crops of it. This has created a “tremendous challenge in communications,” said B.M. Prasanna, director of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research Program on Maize and the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center Global Maize Program, or CIMMYT, as countries and the development sector scramble to teach farmers about this pest, in order to curb losses from the invasion.

    • Agriculture & Rural Development
    • Environment & Natural Resources
    • Social/Inclusive Development
    • Global Health
    • Central Africa
    • Southern Africa
    • Eastern Africa
    Printing articles to share with others is a breach of our terms and conditions and copyright policy. Please use the sharing options on the left side of the article. Devex Pro members may share up to 10 articles per month using the Pro share tool ( ).

    About the author

    • Sara Jerving

      Sara Jervingsarajerving

      Sara Jerving is a Senior Reporter at Devex, where she covers global health. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, VICE News, and Bloomberg News among others. Sara holds a master's degree from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism where she was a Lorana Sullivan fellow. She was a finalist for One World Media's Digital Media Award in 2021; a finalist for the Livingston Award for Young Journalists in 2018; and she was part of a VICE News Tonight on HBO team that received an Emmy nomination in 2018. She received the Philip Greer Memorial Award from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in 2014.

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