…as stalk borer invades Kazungula district

Sat, 07 Jan 2017 11:40:52 +0000

By ANDREA MUKOMA

 KAZUNGULA district in Southern Province has recorded some pockets of African maize stalk borer in Sekute Chiefdom and not army worms as claimed by farmers in the area.

District Commissioner Pascalina Musokotwane has confirmed the development to the Daily Nation in Livingstone.

Ms. Musokotwane said that the African maize stalk borer has been reported in Mandia and Sekute wards respectively and that officers from the Ministry of Agriculture were doing everything possible to address the situation.

“As of yesterday (Thursday) we had not yet received any reports of army worms but we have only stalk borers that have been reported in Mandia and Sekute wards. “And the team from the Ministry of Agriculture

is on the ground to address the situation,” she said.

She, however, said that the district would not relent but would instead continue doing assessments in all parts of the district for any possible outbreak of army worms or maize stalk borers.

Ms. Musokotwane further disclosed that the distribution of relief maize which the district received from Government has been flagged off.

Meanwhile, Mwandi District Commissioner in Western Province Precious Muyenga has expressed gratitude to the Government for delivering all the farming inputs to the farmers in the area.

Ms Muyenga told the Daily Nation in a telephone interview that all the inputs were in the district and that framers were currently accessing the government supported Farmer Input Support Program (FISP).

“I can confirm to you that Mwandi district has received all the farming inputs from Government and our farmers have started collecting these inputs. I also want to state that we have not recorded any case of army worms in the district but the team from the Ministry of Agriculture is still assessing the situation,” she said.