ZARI Develops Army Worm Tolerant Maize Varieties

The Zambia Agriculture Research Institute (ZARI) has developed Army Worm tolerant maize varieties as part of efforts to combat the pests.

Farmers have found it difficult to manage Army Worms' resurgence over recent years. The new maize varieties GV6022, GV6076, and GV6088 are expected to increase yields for farmers. They will be used in the 2025 to 2026 farming season.

Lubasi Sinyadi, Acting Principal Agricultural Research Officer at the Mount Makulu Research Station in Chilanga, said, “Maize varieties developed as a department are tolerant varieties, meaning they are not resistant. They do get attacked, but the level of attack is less than that of varieties that do not have the genetics that confer the tolerance.”

ZARI is also evaluating intercropping research and mitigating pests' impact on crops. Demian Ndalama, the Acting Research Officer, explained the process by which fungal spores germinate on pest larvae, dehydrating them entirely.

The Army Worm-resistant maize seeds programme is one of many measures aimed at increasing Zambian food security by developing adaptive and resilient seed varieties for staple foods.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Zambia Statistics Agency disclosed that the country recorded a net deficit of 2,107,745 metric tonnes of maize needed for human consumption and industrial requirements against the anticipated 3.2 million metric tonnes in the 2023/2024 farming season.

The new seeds are one of many actions that the government is taking to empower farmers to achieve the Presidential target of producing 10 million metric tonnes of maize annually.