Radiation technology could effectively deal with army worms in Zambia, says ZNFU
The Zambia
National Farmers’ Union (ZNFU) has called on the adoption of technologies that
will effectively rid the country of menacing pests that affect agricultural
production.
ZNFU
spokesperson Calvin Kaleyi says agricultural production in Zambia has been affected
by perennial outbreaks of various types of pests. In the previous farming
season, an outbreak of fall armyworms affected around 140,000 hectares of the
staple maize crop out of a total planted area of about 1.4 million hectares.
Some maize fields were completely destroyed.
The
Ministry of Agriculture spent more than K30 million to procure over 60,000
litres of pesticides that were only enough to spray about 95,000 hectares of
the affected fields.
Insect
pests are responsible for significant reduction in production of agricultural
crops but there are concerns that the continuous use of pesticides has a
negative impact on the environment and results into development of resistance
against pesticides in many insect species.
The
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is using nuclear science to develop
environmentally-friendly alternatives for pest control. The IAEA and the Food
and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) are jointly sponsoring projects and
conducting research on control of insect pests using ionizing radiations. They
have placed considerable emphasis on the Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) to
effectively deal with insect pests such as army worms.
“ZNFU has
been a consistent advocate for training and research in technologies that would
enhance productivity and production. If technologies that have been proven such
as SIT can be tapped into, why can’t we send our researchers and scientists to
investigate how this can be adopted in Zambia?” said Mr Kaleyi.
“We need
to seriously start looking at investing in research and technology that will
spur production. Radiation technology has proved effective. Most countries that
are agriculture giants have invested in technology and research. This is the
direction we need to take as a country if we truly want to be the food basket
of the region and Africa.”
SIT
involves rearing large populations of insects that are sterilized through
irradiation (gamma or X-rays) and releasing the sterile male insects in the
wild to compete with the regular male population during sexual reproduction,
and the eggs produced from their mating are infertile so they produce no
offspring.
It has
been successfully used to eradicate several insect pests of agricultural
significance throughout the world and has proved an effective means of pest
management even where mass application of pesticides has previously failed.
To read more please visit: https://mwebantu.com/2017/11/08/radiation-technology-could-effectively-deal-with-army-worms-in-zambia-says-znfu/
Source: Mwebantu