The Ethiopian Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources said that the traditional campaign, which is being made nationwide against the crop ravaging worms, is preferable to pesticide to avoid possible chemical side effects.
The worm, which also popularly known as American Temich, referring the alleged country of origin has appeared to be threat to crops in six regions, in which it reached to them all aggressively. The six regions where these worms appeared are namely, SNNP,Tigray, Oromia, Gambella, Amhara and Benshangul Gumuz.
Ministry’s Public Relation Head, Alemayehu Berhanu, said that the traditional campaign of ripping off worms from berry of crops has been proved successful.
“Spraying pesticide is not advisable to use as it would have negative impact on the environment. The traditional ones is environmentally friendly and will also cut the life cycle of worms,” he said.
He said the people shall continue to campaign against the worms in mass as it covers vast areas.
Though the government believes traditional campaign is better of all prevention mechanism, 100 thousand litres of pesticide is distributed to these affected citizens to assist the campaign, he said.
The government has already launched a study to demystify how the worm leaked into the country before ravaging many crops in vast portion of the country.