GRAAFF-REINET NEWS - Farmers in the Graaff-Reinet, Aberdeen and Nieu-Bethesda districts are fighting the outbreak of armyworms in their grasslands and pastures.
Together with the arrival of the armyworm, locusts are also forcing farmers to spray their pastures, weeks after rain brought hope to the drought-stricken areas.
Dave Stern, chairperson of the Graaff-Reinet Agri District Union confirmed that most farmers have already sprayed their farms. Farmers are also spraying poison for locusts in the pastures.
Agri Eastern Cape said that they are aware of the armyworm threat and notified the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development, who are distributing spray to help kill the worms.
According to Agriculture Victoria, armyworms are caterpillar pests of grass pastures and cereal crops. They are the only caterpillars that growers are likely to encounter in cereal crops, although occasionally native budworm will also attack grain when underlying weed hosts dry out.
Armyworms mostly feed on leaves, but under certain circumstances will feed on the seed stem, resulting in a head loss. The change in feeding habit is caused by depletion of green leaf material or crowding.
In the unusual event of extreme food depletion and crowding, they will 'march' out of crops and pastures in search of food, hence their name, armyworm.
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