The Achaea caterpillars otherwise known as army worms have invaded another county bringing the counties to four thereby destroying crops and plants worth thousands of United States dollars.
However, agriculture workers are appealing for more logistics such as vehicles, chemicals, protective gears, gloves, boots among others are needed urgently to combat the disease.
Deputy Minister of Agriculture for Regional Development, Research and Extension, George Tee Forpoh did not state when the government will deploy logistics and manpower to combat the worm as it has destroyed plants and crops in almost 13 administrative districts in those affected communities.
He said the government has projected between US$3 to US$5 million to procure materials and for human resources that will include a team of local and international scientists to fight insects.
According to the Government of Liberia said the pest invasion has also led to hundreds of residents of affected towns and villages to flee from their homes for fear of being affected by diseases left in their wells, streams, creeks and rivers by these caterpillars.
For the past two weeks, colonies of Achaea caterpillars have stripped fields and polluted wells, creek, river and streams with their excrement in Bong, Nimba, Lofa and Gbarpolu Counties causing panic in affected villages and towns.
The GOL believes that if not contained, the army worms could affect other parts of the country as the worms have begun traveling to neighboring Sierra Leone and Guinea.
Forpoh, who confirmed the report, told state broadcaster (ELBC) yesterday in Monrovia that a small spraying team of scientists are on the ground and have begun spraying bushes including farms, gardens, rivers and creeks in Yaquelleh and other districts in Bong County.
He said the team was drawn from the Central Agriculture Research Institute (CARI), the Ministry of Agriculture, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other agencies were deployed on Sunday June 11.
Forpoh stated among many things that while the team is at work starting with Bong County, the government and its partners are holding consultations to mobilize more equipment for the deployment of trained manpower as expertise are require to combating the invaders.
This could be the second time that caterpillars or army worms have been presence in post-war Liberia.
In 2009, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf declared a state of national emergency to combat the invaders when they attacked and destroyed plants and crops in Bong County.
The Achaea caterpillar or army worms are known to eat cocoa plants, as neighboring Ivory Coast, the world’s biggest grower, is already enduring a harvest blighted by disease and disorganization, though no sightings of the worms have been reported there yet or in Ghana, the second-largest cocoa producer as well.
