Race to contain destructive march of armyworm as pest spreads to India.

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Voracious caterpillar that cost Africa billions of pounds in lost crops now threatens food security across Asia, scientists warn.

A fall armyworm eats a maize stalk in southern Malawi. Photograph: Amos Gumulira/AFP/Getty Images
▼ A crop-chomping caterpillar that has devastated food stocks across Africa has now arrived in southern India, and scientists warn the insect could spread throughout Asia to become a major threat to global food security.
The voracious fall armyworm, which was first spotted on the African continent two years ago and has since cost billions of  pounds in crop losses, is best known for gnawing on maize but eats an additional 186 plant species, including sorghum and soya beans.
A pest alertby the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (Icar reports thatSpodoptera frugiperdawas identified on 70% of the maize crops examined in Chikkaballapur, Karnataka state, where larvae matched fall armyworm samples from Canada and Costa Rica.
Scientists from the Oxfordshire-based Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International (Cabi), which developed an action plan to combat the caterpillar’s spread in Africa, now fear that the food security of millions of people across Asia could be at risk if the armyworms are not contained. India produces more than 20m tonnes of maize a year across the subcontinent, enabling the pest to spread rapidly, Cabi warned.
“A fast response is important as this pest spreads quickly,” said Dr Gopi Ramasamy, Cabi’s country director for India. “It’s likely fall armyworm arrived in India from Africa through human-aided transport, although natural migration is also a possibility since it’s able to fly hundreds of kilometres in one night on prevailing winds.”
Ramasamy said the plan developed and implemented in Africa could be an excellent model to use in India. “Cabi is ready to assist its national partners in India to manage and control fall armyworm.” (▪ ▪ ▪)

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