GHANA – Ghana’s agricultural company, Regional Marketing Group (RMG) Ghana Limited has introduced a new chemical Belt Expert 480SC to combat the fall armyworm menace.
Belt Expert 480SC, manufactured by Bayer CropScience is described as a long standing solution for the control of various chewing (lepidopteran) pests and sucking pests on maize, vegetables, and other crops.
The chemical is soft on beneficial species and pollinators, has good stability to UV radiation as well as provides a longer residual effect.
Fall Armyworm is believed to be a notorious pest that keeps builds resistance to chemicals prompting the development of the new control.
According to Dela, there were currently no cross-resistance to “Belt Expert 480SC” within insect populations known to be resistant to other insecticide activity groups.
Tackling pests and food security
The launch is part of the ‘Kick Fall Armyworm Out’ campaign, a national strategy by RMG to complement the government’s efforts in helping farmers tackle pests and diseases such as Fall Armyworm.
Mr Dela Nyako, the Marketing Manager of RMG said the campaign reinforces pest control especially in maize producing districts across six regions including Upper East, Upper West, Northern, Brong Ahafo, Ashanti and Eastern.
RMG is carrying a demonstration field trip to create awareness on the pest control for sustainable production towards food security.
“The best way to achieve this is to ensure we make available to them the best and the most advanced technology for irrigation, quality crop protection products (CPP’s), fertilizer and seeds for agriculture production,” he said.
Farmers will be required to pay less per hectare for spraying, while getting the best yields from Bayer solutions whose products are already used in Ghana, Africa, Europe and America.
To avoid any accumulated effect in future, farmers were advised to adhere to basic instructions during spraying.
