Agriculture
Daff confirms collection of suspected fall army worm specimens─── 16:23 Wed, 01 Feb 2017
Pretoria - It will be some time before samples of suspected fall army worm specimens collected in Limpopo and North West can be fully verified.
The Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (Daff) says it has been receiving reports from several farmers since January 16 of an unidentified pest. Some producers had already observed the pest on maize in December.
The caterpillar seems to be similar in appearance to the fall army worm, FAW, which is the larval stage of the moth Spodoptera frugiperda.
Specimens have been collected and scientists at the Agricultural Research Council, as well as the North West University, are in the process of trying to identify these.
The department says the insect needs to complete its entire lifecycle before positive identification can be made by the ARC Biosystematics Division. The life cycle of fall army worms, from egg to adult moth stage, can take between 24 and 40 days depending on conditions.
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Source: DAFF.gov.za
