District Two, Grand Bassa County – The Coordinator of the Ministry of Agriculture in Grand Bassa County says she afraid that the caterpillar outbreak in the county could spread to other towns due to heavy rains.
Report by Alpha Daffae Senkpeni, [email protected]
Heavy rain is thwarting efforts by a team of experts that are spraying the caterpillars with insecticides in a bid to prevent them from destroying farm crops in the area.
Joyce Korvah said over 10 towns including Passing Town, Blees Town, Solomon and Clarke towns are amongst several other towns that have been affected by the army pest invasion which began a week ago.
Several towns in District Two have already been invaded by the caterpillars also known as ‘army worms’, while the Ministries of Agriculture and Health make intervention. Other philanthropic Liberians continue to help affected residents in the affected areas with drinking water.
Korvah said the MOA has carried equipment and more chemicals to combat the caterpillars in the area but their efforts are challenged by the rains.
“Those chemicals are expensive for us to just spray them in the rain because as it is raining, when you use the chemical we all know it will get washed away,” she said.
“And then the effect of the chemical will not be too ok because it’s not going to work and now that we are in the rainy season, this is our challenge.”
The caterpillar invasion has left several farmers frustrated, and Madam Korvah says getting to all of the affected towns is difficult due to flooded rivers and bad roads.
Residents in the area have also expressed concern over the pollution of their drinking water sources by the pest, but the MOA official in Grand Bassa says several water sachets were recently donated by other private individuals to help them. Locals in the area are without hand pump and depend only on creeks as drinking water sources.
“These caterpillars are like almost all over the water because the trees that are hosting the caterpillars are just over the water (creek)…, the MOH people are in to see what they can do there to help the people,” she said, adding that water-guards and buckets have been distributed to the affected residents.
Residents were panicking when the caterpillars were earlier discovered in their towns. Moses Yoosuah of Passing Town told reporters, the pest invasion is a threat to their farming and livelihood.
“We are worried about this thing (caterpillar) because it is all over and we don’t even know how to deal with it – it is going all in our houses and in our water,” Yoosuah said.
Another affected resident, Joseph Baryougar of Cee’s Town, says the presence of the ‘army worms’ is an embarrassment for several families.
He, at the same time, frowned on the Grand Bassa County administration for failing to make initial intervention before the central government through the MOH and MOA.
But with a week’s intervention, Korvah said, locals are collaborating with them to curb the pest invasion which residents fear may move into other towns. There have been frequent reports of caterpillars’ invasion in other counties including Bong, Gbarpolu and Nimba Counties.
Some residents are concern about the destruction of their farm crops but, Madam Korvah said the situation is stable right now due to their interventions but she admits that ‘the army worms could make a bounce back’.
One resident, Morris Harmon of Hans Towns stressed that MOA should exert more efforts and ensure they get rid of the caterpillars, while another affected farmer, Marie Scott added: “It is the first time for us to experience this thing in this area so we hope government can do more to stop it so that it can’t go to other areas.”
Meanwhile, the MOA Coordinator in Buchanan has denied speculations that the caterpillars have surfaced in District Four.
“I don’t know about that because nobody has informed us but once the authority there tell us I will move there to do an assessment.”
There are fears from residents outside of the affected areas who want the authorities to exert more efforts in order to prevent the further spread of the pest.
But Madam Korvah admits that the situation can be hard to deal with.
“This is something we really don’t have control over because it is seen from the surface of it; we like trailed around it from where we see it…, so we don’t know the level of infestation in their habitat,” she said.