During a farmer awareness and training workshop on the product held in Lunzu, Mpatsa Holdings Limited revealed news of a new pesticide on the market called Ecoterex, which is aimed at treating dealing with fall armyworms in maize fields.

According to the Chairman of Mpatsa Holdings Limited, Jimmy Koreia Mpatsa, the development is a partnership Zimbabwean based Shumba Group, who will be distributors of the product in there. “As you might be aware that Mpatsa Holdings is known for the distribution of Shumba Super, which is a post-harvest treatment, we realised that yields have started to nose-dive and, as a Malawian company, we thought of finding a cost-effective way of controlling fall armyworms hence the partnership,”. Mpatsa said.

Present at the workshop was the District Agriculture Development Officer for Blantyre, Linda Mphande, said the pesticide has come at a right time when the country is facing serious food security threats from fall armyworms. “The product has come at a right time when farmers in the country are struggling to produce enough maize due to the effects of fall armyworms and most of the farmers are failing to control it because most of the products on the market are either expensive or ineffective,” Mphande said.

Malawi farmers have suffered as their products underwent an army worm outbreak. In 2017 alone, it was reported that 20 Districts were affected by the fall army worm; that means 2 thirds of the nation’s districts were affected, with floods being reported in the same year also. In the 2019/2020 budget, parliament approved K500 million to be used to purchase pesticides to fight armyworms and other pests.