Government anti-armyworm efforts poor - Minority

The Minority in parliament has indicated that the efforts of the Akufo-Addo-led government in dealing with the fall armyworm invasion of farms is inadequate in eradicating the problem.

George Oduro, a Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture, has revealed the government of Ghana has adopted the best method of containing the problem to avert further destruction of farms.

He told Chief Jerry Forson, host of Ghana Yensom on Accra100.5FM on Thursday July 13, that out of the 112,000 hectares affected, 14,000 hectares had been totally destroyed.

“We have dispatched the insecticides to every district capital across the country. Every farmer who will experience the armyworm should quickly go to the district assembly for insecticides. At the moment we are managing the situation in such a way that they cannot spread further,” he said.

He added: “You can’t eradicate the fall armyworm; all you can do is to manage it. The Brazilian government during an FAO conference in Rome last mentioned that they had treated this problem for the past 35 years and so the Government of Ghana is liaising with the Brazilian authorities to tap into their experiences in managing this problem.”

But also speaking on he show, the Member of Parliament for Chereponi, Samuel Abdulai Jabanyite, said: “Although the government is making conscious efforts in dealing with the problem and we appreciate that effort, what we in the Minority are saying is that we need to go a step further.

“The assertion that the problem cannot be eradicated is inaccurate because the Brazilian and US governments have adopted a system that can help eradicate the problem totally.

“Their method, the calendar spraying system, has become the norm or the accepted way of dealing with the problem and so when you follow through this calendar, you will be able to eradicate this problem.

“We will continue to encourage them to take all the measures to make sure that this problem is removed.”