No fall armyworm impact on sugar industry, despite concerns

Despite reports by news agency Bloomberg that fall armyworm (FAW) may soon affect the sugar cane industry, experts believe that this may not be the case.

No fall armyworm impact on sugar industry, despite concerns
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Dr Roger Price, division manager for insect ecology at the Agricultural Research Council (ARC), said that he was concerned that FAW would infect sugar cane plantations in KwaZulu-Natal, according to Bloomberg.

READ Guidelines for controlling fall armyworm

Speaking to Farmer’s Weekly via email, Cedric Mboyisa, communications and media manager at the South African Sugar Association (SASA), said that to SASA’s best knowledge to date, FAW had not been recorded in sugar industries in Africa.

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“It is almost impossible to prevent entry of any pest; the best that can be done is to ensure that there are measures to control it, should it enter an industry. Management of pests in the sugar industry follows the principles of integrated pest management. Broadly, these range from development of cultivars that are resistant to the pest, through a range of agronomic practices to application of registered chemicals to assist in control,” Mboyisa said.

However, Mboyisa said that any new pest represented a threat.

Dr Gerhard Verdoorn, chairperson of Crop Life SA for safety, health and environment, who was investigating solutions to the pest, said that FAW had now been confirmed in all nine provinces.

“At this stage no one can determine the extent of the damage. It fluctuates between maize stands where FAW completely decimated an entire crop, to stands where damage was prevented timeously with control measures,” Verdoorn said.

Farmer’s Weekly reported earlier that producers who had planted Monsanto’s YieldGard II did not suffer crop losses.

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Gerhard Uys grew up as a real city lad, but spends his free time hiking and visiting family farms. He learnt the journalism trade as a freelance writer and photographer in the lifestyle industry, but having decided that he will be a cattle farmer by the age of 45 he now indulges his passion for farming by writing about agriculture. He feels Farmer’s Weekly is a platform for both developed and emerging farmers to learn additional farming skills and therefore takes the job of relaying practical information seriously.