WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.
Original Post Date: 2009-01-22 Time: 11:00:08 Posted By: Jan
Shankpalai, Liberia – Normally at noon farmer John Wenopolu should be tending his fields in this central Liberian town, but he cannot get there due to an invasion of caterpillars.
“I am sitting here in the town doing nothing and this is the farming season. When it starts raining, we will not be able to do any work,” he told reporters, staring pensively at the road to his farm.
Known as army worms, the caterpillars – one of the world’s most destructive insects – are gobbling up farmers’ livelihoods in this impoverished West African country.
The insects invaded towns and villages in the central part of the country two weeks ago, causing some inhabitants to flee. More recently they crossed the border to Guinea, sparking fresh worries.
| ‘They eat and move very aggressively’ |
The Liberian government has asked the Economic Community of West African States regional bloc and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) for support, Agriculture Minister Christopher Toe told reporters.
It is also sending teams to spray insecticide on trees, where the army worms hide during the day. But the equipment can only spray to a height of two metres – and the insects just move higher up the trees.
“Those may be just short-term measures. To ensure that these insects are totally eliminated, we may have to result to area spray,” said Toe, who had arrived in Shankpalai to assess matters.
“We have to monitor the situation very closely because it may become a problem for the agriculture sector,” said FAO’s emergency co-ordinator in Liberia, Tim Vaessen, who was part of Toe’s delegation.
Wenopolu said the insects were a menace.
| ‘My family is running out of food’ |
“The caterpillars hang in the trees and when you are passing, they drop on you and bite you,” the 38-year-old farmer said.
Black and yellow, about five centimetres in length, the army worms move in large groups and eat all crops, including vegetables. When they reach maturity they can lay waste to an entire crop in a matter of days.
“My house is at the edge of the town near the bush. My husband and I were in the room during the night when the caterpillars got all over the house. We had to leave the house and seek refuge in the centre of the town,” Bintu Jabateh, who is now staying with Wenopolu, said.
Local authorities insist something has to be done soon.
“Time for farming is fast moving,” said Joseph Urey, Commissioner of Zota district, which houses most of the 21 villages affected, adding that the invasion could lead to a food shortage.
Experts say there are already millions of army worms in the region and warn they can reproduce quickly.
“They attack a completely wide range of host plants. They eat and move very aggressively. Every green plant material they see, they eat it. Because they move in groups, scientists refer to them as army worms,” said Gregory Tarplah, an entomologist at the agriculture ministry.
To chase the pests, residents have tried to set fire to the trees housing the caterpillars, but have had no luck so far.
“When the fire goes off they come back, even more than before. We are just confused,” villager Patrick Flomo said.
Now some farmers are getting desperate.
“The rice I harvested a month ago, I was keeping it on the farm,” said one, Afred Kollie. “I cannot go there now and my family is running out of food.” – AFP
Source: http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?art_id=nw20090122103235916C125202