Army worms have been detected in Ghana's Upper East Region, according to news reports confirmed to IRIN by the FAO's Deputy Regional Representative for West Africa, George Mburathi.
News organisations have reported that some 130,000 ha of cereals are threatened by the caterpillars, which have also been detected in significant numbers in Cameroon.
Mburathi told IRIN that, as far as he knew, Ghana and Cameroon were the only two West African countries where the presence of the caterpillars, which reduce harvests by attacking crops before they mature, had been reported so far.
East and Central African countries such as Kenya, Sudan and Chad have already been attacked by the pest.
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
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