Yahoo News 28 Jan 09;
CONAKRY (AFP) – Army worms that have already devastated Liberian crops entered neighbouring Guinea over the weekend, national radio announced Wednesday.
Several villages in the Yomou region, some 1,200 kilometers to the southwest of the capital Conakry, were invaded by the insects.
The army worms, a kind of caterpillars, can lay waste to an entire crop in a matter of days.
"Urgent action is being taken to halt this pest which can endanger crops and destroy new shoots," the radio station said.
"The ground, the vegetation is black with the caterpillars, we don't know how to deal with this. They devour everything on their path," a local agriculture official told AFP.
Liberia on Monday declared a state of emergency with thousands of people affected by the invasion of the crop-destroying army worms.
Authorities there say more than 53 towns and villages in Liberia have now been affected by the insects and warn that tens of thousands of Liberians face hunger due to the invasion.
Liberia worms swarm 'emergency'
BBC News 27 Jan 09;
Liberia's president has declared a state of emergency in response to a plague of crop-destroying armyworms.
Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf said all possible resources would be used to fight the insects, which have spread to next-door Guinea and are nearing Sierra Leone.
Some 400,000 residents in 80 villages had been affected, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said.
The "worms" - which are actually caterpillars - are among the world's most destructive agricultural pests.
Guinea has started spraying, and Sierra Leone has announced it will mobilise chemicals and personnel to its border.
Worst in decades
Liberia has already appealed for international help to carry out aerial spraying against tens of millions of the invading insects.
It is the West African country's worst infestation of armyworm in three decades.
Creeks and rivers - which some villages rely on for drinking water - have been polluted by the massive amount of faeces from the swarm.
Mrs Johnson-Sirleaf said there are indications the insects had reached several villages in neighbouring Guinea.
Speaking during her annual message to lawmakers, she said: "I hereby declare a state of national emergency with particular emphasis on the existing and potentially affected counties.
"The technical team has identified and classified the species and has commenced spraying in the affected areas. Water and food are being supplied to the most vulnerable and displaced."
An agriculture ministry-led command post, manned by fewer than 100 pest control workers, has been set up to contain the infestation.
FAO experts are in Liberia helping efforts to control the swarm.
The agency's Winfred Hammond told the BBC: "It's quite an alarming situation for us, in a country where food-security is a big challenge. The areas affected have all been consumed by the armyworms."
The invasion began in Bong County before spreading into neighbouring Lofa and Gbarpolu counties and threatening villages over the border in Guinea.
With each female laying between 500 and 1,000 eggs, the caterpillars (of the genus Spodoptera ) can devour an entire crop in a matter of days once they reach maturity. They grow up to 5cm (2in) in length.
Q&A: Armyworms ravage Liberia
BBC News 27 Jan 09;
Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf has declared a state of emergency in response to a plague of crop-destroying armyworms.
Farmers in Kenya and Tanzania have also suffered outbreaks in recent years. So what, if anything, can be done to help in the long term?
What exactly are armyworms?
The menace known as the "African armyworm" is in fact a caterpillar.
During the rainy season, the insects emerge in sudden swarms and rapidly devour crops such as maize, sorghum, millet, rice and sugar cane.
The pest gets its moniker from its habit of "marching" in large numbers into crop fields.
Like locusts, armyworms appear in huge numbers, ravage farms, and then move on once fields are barren.
They also cause disease, as their faeces enters rivers and streams can contaminate drinking water supplies.
Where did they come from?
The armyworms are the larvae of nocturnal moths, of the species Spodoptera exempta.
During the rainy seasons, the moths spread and begin laying eggs in grasses and food crops. Each female lays between 500 and 1,000 eggs in her 10-day lifetime.
The moths are capable of long-distance migration - more than 100km (60 miles) per night - allowing the swarms to spread rapidly.
Once hatched, the larvae migrate through grasslands in snake-like colonies. On reaching crop fields, they begin feasting.
At full size (5cm - 2in) the caterpillars can lay waste to whole farms within days. They then simply move on to the next available target.
How serious is the outbreak in Liberia?
The last time swarms attacked on this scale in Liberia was in the late 1970s.
The losses could cause serious food shortages. Liberia is already heavily dependent on imported rice to feed its 3.5 million citizens.
The government says it cannot cope with the scale of the outbreak and has called in the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) to help.
To make matters worse, the worms are now spreading to neighbouring Guinea and towards Sierra Leone.
In recent years there have also been major outbreaks in Tanzania and Kenya.
Can anything be done to halt their march?
At present, the best weapon against the pest is to spray crops with chemical insecticides.
These are too expensive for most farmers, so the government is stepping in and calling for international assistance, to begin aerial crop spraying.
Forecasting systems do exist in some African countries, to warn farmers about possible outbreaks in time to spray crops, where they can afford to.
But these warnings do not always work because attacks often affect isolated communities that are difficult to contact.
A more radical approach to prevention - a virus known as NPV - is being investigated by researchers from the UK, Canada and Tanzania.
The naturally occurring virus is specifically lethal to armyworms, but it appears too late in most years to prevent them causing serious crop damage.
Scientists hope to study and harness the virus, to create an effective pest control technique.
Their goal is to create a pesticide which will be harmless to humans and other wildlife, but will destroy armyworms and thus keep Africa's staple food crops intact.
