Worms have invaded Itetzhi Tetzhi and are destroying maize stocks.
District Commissioner. Leonard Shampile, has appealed to the Ministry of Agriculture to immediately send experts to the area to identify and control the spread of the worms.
Mr. Shamiple said he has received reports from two chiefs in Itetzhi Tetzhi indicating that many villagers have lost their maize crop as a result of the worms.
He told ZNBC News that the situation is worrying as the worms are spreading rapidly and that this may affect crop yield in the area.
He warned that local people will suffer losses if the worms are not eliminated.
And Mr. Shampile thanked the government for delivering extra farming inputs to Itetzhi Tetzhi through the Fertilizer Support Programme.
Meanwhile, Hunger is said to be stalking villagers in Magoye in Southern Province.
Area memeber of Parliament, Bennie Mweemba, has appealed to the Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit-DMMU- to send relief food to the area.
He said people in Magoye have resorted to eating unripe mangoes and other wild fruits due to lack of food.
Mr. Mweemba also bemoaned the slow pace at which fertiliser is being distributed in his area.
He told ZNBC news that this will affected food production in the area.
[ZNBC]
What is happening are they all sleeping. Am a very good pest scout please call me i will come and sort them out
To day i have rigged am coming out first and second.
Numbala 3. Too bad the worms are eating up the crops
TATA LEZA TUYOVWE. BEKALAPENGA BANTU,
is there any maize for the worms to eat? the worms must be very hungry, LOL
Now that the problem is identified, gvt please control those worms as a matter of urgency. People cant go on starving day in and day out when you leaders are comfortable. ACT NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
…and this is the first of the seven plagues to come.
Could these worms be Stem Borer larvae? If so, farmers can deter them by interplanting Tick Clover and Elephant Grass.
Go green, man. 🙂
Viwaya mutu wameno viwaya ohh ohh ohh viwaya mutu wa meno viwaya ……sing it with me
Worms are PF supporters
#9. And you my friend you are the giant earthworm I have ever heard of. Viwaya mumenso.
No. 8 people grow maize for food. Now you ask them to grow elephant grass? It grows naturally.
The worms I thought make good relish. Why not start celebrating?
50Kg vinkubala is more expensive than 50Kg maize so these farmers should start exporting to Lusaka and CB.
Worms, always we come up with an excuse just like the nation soccer team.
Just munch them you dull people! Ala! :d
some parts of S/P pipo are starving and yu let maize get eaten by worms,what kind of jokes are these,:d?do we have warehouse managers in these storage facilities,and if we do,God have mercy.the only way we’re do dev. in zed is by changing our altitude towards work more so in public service.what experts do yu want in itezhi tezhi there?do yu need an expert to have yo storage facilities fumigated?just empty those storage facilities and give the maize to starving pipo in lusitu and other parts of our sweet S/P.
11. Demadone,
” No. 8 people grow maize for food. Now you ask them to grow elephant grass? It grows naturally. ”
Interplanting it and tick clover with maize has beneficial effects on the maize – something otherwise only achievable by pesticides.
There are a lot of biological pest controls, some of which are plants. Predatory insects can also be used to keep pests down – praying mantis, predatory mites like hypoaspis miles, ladybugs, nematodes, etc.
Garlick notoriously also deters pests.
Now that the report has been received we expect to hear results.Itezhi Tezhi is rich in minerals, fish with ubandant water, surrounded by Kafue national park(wildlife, tourism), plenty of honey in the bush but it lags behind in develpoment. No proper road linking the district to Mumbwa, majority have no access to clean piped water when Kafue river is just in front of the District,etc
Stop being alarmists! Any seasoned farmer should take care of his business. Most of this people in villages think GRZ should do everything for them. Get an Ext. Officer to identify the Pest prescibe the pestecide. If you’re genuine farmers then you should buy the pesticides, period! Spend money to make more money.
For yuo MPs who always sing about Njala/starvation, do you really know the cause! Your people are starving because they depend on maize even when they can’t grow it. Let them plant Cassava, cowpea etc. Besides,they should move away from flood-prone areas to higher grounds. Help GRZ by helping yourselves. These problems can be avoided and Govt money can be spent on other projects.
19. Gr. Matchona
The government has a big role in both educating farmers as they do everywhere else in the world, and creating infrastructure. Those flood prone areas are begging for works to control water flow and harvest surplus water to be kept for times of drought. It is not being alarmist to note pest outbreaks, nor is the simple solution to spray on some pesticides. Eventually, those pesticides end up in your food too.
We need to start supporting medium scale organic agriculture. It is cheaper, it produces safer food, and it can elevate income levels if we depend on the people instead of foreign corporations.
BA Lt ngotu tuleshana. Virus