Fall Armyworms destroy $268m worth of crops

The Country Representative of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), Suffyan Koroma, has said that Army worms have caused agricultural damage worth $268 million (N76.48 billion).

Suffyan disclosed this on Wednesday in a FAO Situation Report of November, 2018, released in Maiduguri.

“Since first observed in 2016, the pest has caused major economic damages to Nigeria’s agriculture sector, with the strongest impact being on a million producer households,” said the report.

The report disclosed that the Fall Army-worms (FAW) are negatively affecting the food production and incomes of more than a million households across Nigeria.

On destroyed quantity was “7.8 million hectares of crop, estimated to be damaged the four affected states. 1.5 million households are estimated to be affected by the worms.”

He said to overcome the destruction of crops, $3 million (N1.1 billion) is required by UN food agency. The report warned that FAO’s funding for FAW activities had been depleted.

“In July 2018, FAO mapped the impact of the FAW on livelihoods in six states in southern Nigeria, with the mapping of an additional six states in the northern region ongoing,” said Koroma.