MAMBWE District in Eastern Province has received 320 litres of chemicals meant to combat fall army worms that have affected various fields of the maize crop in the district.

According to the Agricultural Authorities in the district, 5321 households have been affected by the fall army worms.  

Additionally, 2,503 hectares of agriculture fields have been affected by the fall army worms with an infestation rate of 9.82 percent whereas 51 hectares have also been affected by beetles with an infestation rate of 2.3 percent.

The authorities further revealed that the chemicals meant to combat the fall army worms have been distributed to various agricultural camps in the district where farmers can easily access them.

Meanwhile, Mambwe District Administrative Officer Weston Phiri appreciated government’s prompt response in ensuring that agriculture fields were secured as that would greatly help farmers harvest something tangible from what they planted.

Mr Phiri further observed that most crop fields were likely to do well, following the current favourable rainfall that the district has been experiencing.

Currently, Mambwe District has 34,040 registered farmers with 6,100 benefiting from the Farmer Input Support Programme (FISP), while 300 applied to benefit from the Sustainable Agriculture Financing Facility (SAFF) out of which only 16 have so far received the inputs.