The Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture, Dr. Sagre Bambangi, on Thursday, 27 July 2017 paid a visit to the National Service Scheme’s Dahwenya Farm in the Greater Accra Region.
The visit was to afford the Deputy Minister the opportunity to acquaint himself with the nature of the infestation of Fall Armyworm and to also monitor the progress of work as far as the fight against the spread was concerned.
The Armyworms have destroyed farms in certain parts of the country, particularly the Ashanti, Greater Accra, Brong Ahafo and the Eastern Regions, causing destructions to crops especially maize and cocoa.
The Deputy Minister expressed excitement about the progress made by the NSS farm in fighting the armyworm invasion and called on all farmers to go strictly by the directions of the Ministry in combating the infestation.
He added that government was concerned about the outbreak since it had the tendency of derailing efforts at revamping the agriculture sector, adding that the government has made available chemicals and personnel as well as education to combat the worms.
The acting Executive Director of the Scheme, Mustapha Ussif thanked the Minister for his Ministry’s support to the Scheme which includes provision of seedlings, technical support and chemicals.
He re-emphasised the Scheme’s effort to support the President’s Planting for Food and Jobs policy by deploying over 2,100 service personnel to help the programme.
The acting Director of Crops at the Ministry of Agriculture, Mr. Seth Osei-Akoto rebuffed claims that detergents such as Omo, Alata Samina among others could be used to fight Armyworms on farms and called on farmers to only go by the sensitisation given by the Ministry.
Source:Ghana/AccraFM.com
