Press Releases

U.S. Ambassador Inspects Armyworm Damage, Meets Government Officials

March 7, 2006

U.S. Ambassador to Tanzania, Michael Retzer, traveled this week to Morogoro with the USAID/Tanzania Mission Director, Pamela White, to learn first-hand about the armyworm invasion in Tanzania. Traveling into the hilly, fertile fields along the road to Dodoma, an hour and a half beyond Morogoro, the Ambassador encountered lush green fields of corn. As the group moved further from the road, however, the fields became increasingly stunted, culminating in decimated stumps of chewed, withered plants. Armyworms were everywhere: on the barren topsoil wriggling in search of a meal, and along the stems and leaves of virtually every plant encountered. Corn is the basis of Tanzania’s leading staple food—‘ugali,’ a thick porridge-like meal that fills bellies and fuels much of the Tanzanian population. If family corn harvests fail, many homes will go without food.

Some weeks ago, it became increasingly apparent that the army worm invasion was rapidly reaching crisis levels. While armyworm invasions are somewhat regular and cyclical in Africa, Tanzania’s current drought has helped create favorable conditions for a massive outbreak. Some estimates suggest that as many as 100,000 hectares or more may be at risk from the armyworm. Female armyworms can lay up to 2,000 eggs. It is this caterpillar (the larvae stage of the armyworm as opposed to the fully mature moth stage) that is most dangerous to crops. Infestations of over 1,000 larvae per square meter are possible and can quickly wipe out cereal crops, forage grasses and rangeland. Typically, armyworm control is carried out with hand-held sprayers--time and human resource-intensive-- as aerial spraying is not effective.

Ambassador Retzer, working with USAID, has made available $50,000 from the American people to Tanzania for emergency armyworm response. These funds have already purchased essential supplies: pesticide sprayers and protective gear (ponchos, rubber gloves, safety goggles, boots and dust masks) handed over by the Ambassador to the Regional Commissioner and the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security and Cooperatives to expedite response to the outbreak. In addition, USAID staff and technical experts from USAID’s Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance are meeting this week with Tanzanian Government officials to assess further the gravity of the situation and develop a response. As the Ambassador commented during the visit, “The international donor community, the Government of Tanzania—at the national, zonal, district and village levels—must all act immediately and in a coordinated fashion to stem the damage being done by the armyworms.”