Top brass give pest talks a miss

Ministers from 15 East and Southern African countries were absent from the UN's crisis meeting on fall armyworm, instead delegating the task to staff, who in some cases left after delivering their speeches.

This raised concern among those who did stay to thrash out a solution that the people who can make a difference are indifferent to the crisis.

At a meeting organised by the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation in Harare this week over the threat posed by pests and disease outbreaks to food security, experts pointed a finger at regional governments for being slow to respond and allocating few resources to the fight against outbreaks.

The fall armyworm, African migratory red locusts, tomato leaf miner, avian flu and foot-and-mouth disease have devastated crops or livestock in the Southern African Development Community.

Twelve countries - South Africa, Zambia, Malawi, Tanzania, Namibia, the Seychelles, Madagascar, Botswana, Angola, Rwanda, Uganda and Zimbabwe - participated in the FAO meeting. Representatives for Swaziland, Mauritius and Mozambique did not show up, and Kenya was represented only by an FAO official.

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Criticism by experts, however, failed to jolt the right audience, as policymakers from the various countries were either absent or sent ministry staff to attend.

Observers said this raised questions not only about the priority given to the threats to food security, but also about the likelihood of resolutions made at the two-day meeting being implemented.

Even the guest of honour, Zimbabwean Agriculture Minister Joseph Made, was absent.

He was represented by Ringson Chitsiko, the agriculture ministry permanent secretary, who read a speech on Made' s behalf and left immediately afterwards.

South African Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Senzeni Zokwana was also absent.

Department spokeswoman Bomikazi Molapo did not respond to e-mailed questions.

Joyce Mulila-Mitti, plant production and protection officer at the FAO, said that despite the absence of top government officials, a SADC council of ministers meeting would be held early next month at which the resolutions of the FAO meeting would be presented to government officials.

The resolutions included commitments from the FAO, in collaboration with SADC, to assist countries in assessing the extent of the fall armyworm threat to the region.

Countries were also encouraged to start awareness campaigns aimed at farmers and agricultural workers.

The FAO had started procuring pheromone lure traps, used for capturing fall armyworm and monitoring their spread, the agency said.

"Whatever recommendations we make, if there is no political will, things cannot move," said Mulila-Mitti.

"But we take heart in that there was representation from SADC at this meeting and participants will attend a SADC council of ministers meeting where they will make presentations on the outcomes of this meeting."

While there are still no exact figures of the cost of damage to crops from the pests, agricultural economists said it would run into millions of dollars.

block_quotes_start There is a danger of outbreaks of red locusts. Already five areas in Tanzania are affected, of which three areas are active block_quotes_end

Brazil, the world's third-largest maize producer - and the country where the fall armyworm originated - spends about R7.7-billion a year fighting the pest.

Moses Okhoba, director of the International Red Locust Control Organisation for Central and Southern Africa, said Southern Africa's food security was in "grave danger".

"There is a danger of outbreaks of red locusts. Already five areas in Tanzania are affected, of which three areas are active.

"In Malawi, there are outbreaks in two areas and in Mozambique two areas are affected," Okhoba said.

The movement of pests such as locusts and the fall armyworm, which was detected in South Africa this month, follows a north to south path and is thought to be linked to winds from the intertropical convergence zone. This means that other outbreaks in countries up north, if unchecked, may soon find their way into South Africa.

A swarm of locusts can consist of 40million insects that eat 2g of vegetation each daily, wiping out hectares of planted maize crops.

This is likely to endanger the food security of South Africa, the continent's largest maize producer. South Africa produces nearly half of the 30million tons of maize produced annually by SADC countries.

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Wandile Sihlobo, head of the economic and agriculture unit at the Agriculture Business Chamber, said this week that the maize forecast for the 2016-17 season was 11.9million tons, a 53% increase on the previous year.

Chimimba David Phiri, the FAO's subregional co-ordinator for Southern Africa, said the pests threatened to undo what should have been a good season for the region following good rains.

"What is more worrying is that the affected countries include the main producers of maize, which is the region's staple grain ... this could result in reduced maize production and comes immediately after two years of drought," he said.

Southern Africa has had normal to above-normal rainfall this season after the devastation of the El Niño-induced drought.

The drought left nearly 40million people across the region with an insecure food supply, according to the UN World Food Programme.

Phiri said the fall armyworm outbreak was an opportunity for regional governments to check the effectiveness of their early warning response systems.

"It is imperative for Southern Africa to strengthen its response and enhance its early warning systems," he said.

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