Pest outbreak threatens timber industry

Malawi's lucrative timber industry has been threatened by a pest outbreak that has attacked trees across the country's northern forest reserve, AP reported on Friday quoting foresters. "The fast multiplying pest, called Aphids of Cypress, is wreaking economic havoc for Malawi's second largest industry, said forester Amadeus Nyondo. Scientists were attempting to control the outbreak which, if left uncontrolled, threatened to destroy the entire forest, the report said. This could cost the country millions of dollars in export losses, according to Nyondo. Large portions of the troubled forest were destroyed last year when disgruntled laid-off workers set fire to it. The jobs of some 1,200 workers in the northern forest reserve could be at risk if the current crisis was not checked, the report said.