By Sarah HannanMaize farmers from the Uva and Eastern Provinces have reported that their cultivations have been destroyed by the fall army-worm during the Yala season. Weligamage, therefore, suggested that several other steps too need to be followed to successfully eradicate the fall armyworm. First sightings in AfricaNative to the Americas, the fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda [JE Smith]; Lepidoptera, Noctuidae) was first reported in the African continent in January 2016 (Goergen et al. The fall armyworm spreads quickly across large geographic areas. Like other moths in the genus Spodoptera, fall armyworm moths have both a migratory habit and a more localised dispersal habit.

Source: The Nation December 06, 2020 08:05 UTC