Fall armyworm worries maize farmers in Chuadanga

Fall armyworm (FAW) has affected maize crop on 40 hectares of land in Chuadanga, much to the worry of farmers in the south-western district famous for cultivation of the winter crop.

The pest, rapidly moving through fields after eating young plant stems, has been found at maize fields in some areas of Chuadanga Sadar and Damurhuda upazilas, said officials of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE).

Native to the Americas, FAW was first officially reported in Nigeria of West Africa in 2016, and rapidly spread across different countries in sub-Saharan region.

In Asia, the pest attack was first reported from some maize fields in India last year.

“The same year, we also detected fall armyworm at Gobindhuda village in Chuadanga’s Damurhuda upazila,” said Sufi Rafiquzzaman, additional deputy director of DAE in Chuadanga.

Abdul Hamid, a farmer of Kulochara village in Chuadanga Sadar upazila, said his three acres of maize field has been attacked by fall armyworm.

“The moth eats up leaves and stems of maize plants. We failed to control it despite applying various medicines,” he said. 

Almas Uddin, another farmer of the same village, said he saw the pest first time at his maize field last year.

“That time fall armyworm appeared in a small scale. But now I am afraid to see its spread,” he said.

DAE officials, however, said the pest will not be that much harmful as the present weather condition is favourable for the growth of maize.

Ali Hasan, deputy director of DAE in Chuadanga, said, “Some early variety of maize has been attacked in several areas. It is now under control.”

“We are fully prepared to apply various methods such as basal application of neem cake, seed treatment, inter-cropping with pulses and border cropping to deal with the problem,” he added.

Summit-Bangladesh in cooperation with USAID organised trainings for district and upazila level officials and staff on three occasions from November 12 to December 2 in Chuadanga to ascertain control measures if attack by the FAW pest takes a serious turn, said DAE officials.

Agriculture experts and high officials of the departments concerned were present at the programmes.

This year, maize has been cultivated on around 45,000 hectares of land in Chuadanga while it was 49,117 hectares in last year.