Their reason is simple: Soap detergents are produced with some combined chemicals that are known in science circles to attack the FAW.

The method might not successfully eliminate the worm but gradually weakens its ability to further damage the crop.

At a policy symposium organised by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) on August 30, which brought together major stakeholders in the agriculture sector, there was a consensus that the soap detergent approach has the potential of killing the FAW which could be adopted.

Instead of downplaying these methods, policy makers have been advised to rather integrate the modern scientific methods with the indigenous ones to manage the FAW.

A research scientist at the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission, Dr Michael Osae said, “we all must look closely and find some indigenous natural methods which can be tried in the laboratory or put in place mechanisms to observe them in the field so that they can do the work for us”.

He explained that the army worms had developed resistance to the chemicals and ,therefore, would not react if these methods were still used.

“As much as possible, we should look at all the different arsenals that we can throw at the pest. If we focus only on modern ways, we will be worsening the situation so we must diversify our tools and see how we can integrate these tools to control the pest,” he added.

How integration can occur

Mr Osae told the GRAPHIC BUSINESS that there has been a lot of research done on the use of traditional pest control methods and these could be found and fused with the modern knowledge to attack the FAW.

“If you go to the universities, there are a lot of research works that people have done on traditional pest control methods. For example, the nim tree was an old tool people used and now we have commercial use on the market and same applies to those other ones like the ash and the Alata samina,” he said.

“There may be thesis that people have found and accumulated data on them. All we need to do find those and carry out new research, test them on the worm and study their reactions. If it kills them, what amount do we need to kill them, and how do we apply it on the field?” he added.

Citing an example, he said there were farmers who added urea fertiliser to weedicides before they sprayed and it instantly worked.

“The people who produce the weedicides never talk about urea addition and am sure they have never thought of combining the two. So we must see the reaction that goes on if the modern ones are fused with the traditional and why it is more effective,” he said.

He explained that once the methods were tested and could kill the pest, they should be introduced to the local farmers at a standardised price which can substitute the chemicals that the farmers might not be able to afford.

“We can standardise these things for the local farmers because if the government brings the chemicals which is difficult to afford, the farmers can risk his maize farm while he could use natural methods to deal with it,” he said.

The symposium

In an effort to draw the needed attention to the fall army worm invasion, the Ghana National Learning Alliance under the Sustainable Agricultural Intensification Research and Learning in Africa (SAIRLA) organised a half-day symposium with the aim of igniting the necessary experiential, technical and academic debates arising.

This also leads to the generation of appropriate policy actions for a more practical and sustainable approach to handling the FAW epidemic in Ghana.

The symposium brought together key stakeholders within the agricultural sector in Ghana including the public and private sector players, as well as representatives of relevant non-governmental organisations and civil society groups.