CATERPILLARS INVADE MASINDI VILLAGES

By Innocent Atuganyira
MASINDI:

As farmers  in masindi stuggle to combat the  invasion of African ArmyWorm, caterpillars have  also started invading   villages spreading destruction.

Some of the already affected villages include  Kiswata in Kihuuba ward Karujubu Division, Pakanyi sub county in Buruli constituency among others.
Job Byaruhanga the Masindi district Agricultural Officer told our reporter on Monday evening that he started receiving calls from different residents and councilors of villages/cells and sub counties informing him about the invasion of the caterpillars.
Byaruhanga explained that caterpillars are at their second stage stressing that they are the most destructive stage of these pests.
He called upon the farmers to purchase the chemicals and spray them, noting that as a government they are not in capacity to support all the farmers and respond in time.
”Government doesn’t have the capacity to support all the farmers, we therefore call upon those who can manage to purchase chemicals and spray the pests as we wait for government intervention.”
The Agricultural Officer also asserted that such pests are surfacing due to climate change. He challenged the farmers to keep alert and report any case of pest outbreak  to the extension workers so that they can come up with control measures of these pests.