27 Feb 2013

The Ministry of Agriculture monitors or controls on a regular basis pests of quarantine and economic importance.

The Assistant Minister of Agriculture, Mr Oreeditse Molebatsi told Parliament that these were migratory pests that farmers were currently not able to effectively control through use of their own resources.

Such pests, he said, included quelea, locust, African army worm, Asian fruit fly and larger grain borer. Minister Molebatsi explained that the ministry monitored and controlled the pests through various mechanisms depending on the pest.

He said surveillance, was conducted to establish presence of the pest, stage of its development, stage of crop to be protected and environmental considerations.

"The control if effected, could be done through use of chemicals commonly used in breeding colonies, and in some occasions, a combination of chemicals and explosives can be used," he said.

Mr Molebatsi told the House that two species of locusts found in Botswana were the Red and African migratory locusts which are found in Chobe Enclave, noting that surveys were conducted fortnightly during the rainy season to detect the presence of the locusts.

He said control was done through the use of chemicals and there was a collaborative arrangement with other SADC member states whereby in case of an outbreak, they informed officials in the ministry on the direction and movement of the locust.

The assistant minister stated that army-worm was monitored through use of traps which were strategically located in most parts of the country and these traps were serviced annually before the start of the rainy season.

The pest is normally carried by Eastern South bound winds which bring the African army worm into Botswana, noting that this year, the outbreak was reported in Malawi, Zambia, parts of South Africa and Botswana.

The first report in Botswana was on January 4, 2013 and control operations which were country wide were effected immediately. He noted that the African army worm was controlled through use of chemicals.

The Asian fruit fly, he said, was monitored through use of traps which were strategically located at key parts of the country and the traps were serviced frequently. The larger grain borer is monitored through use of traps along the border line on frequent intervals.

Traps had been set up to detect the army worm moth, even though the ministry did not catch any moth this year, when the army outbreak occurred in early January, it was detected and acted swiftly and brought under control, he said.

He told the House that there was no failure to detect and respond to the army worm outbreak.

The assistant minister was responding to a question from the Member of Parliament for Tonota North, Mr Fidelis Molao who had asked him to state the types of pests which destroyed crops in Botswana and the monitoring mechanisms employed from time to time if there was any.

He also asked the minister to explain why they failed to detect the recent outbreak of the Army worm on time. ENDS