After preparing his farmland in Birniwa Local Government Area of Jigawa State and planting about six mudus of beans, Abdullahi was looking forward to a harvest of more than 20 bags enough, he hoped, to feed his family, meet household needs and earn income from the sale of the surplus.
But that expectation has now been shattered by an armyworm infestation locally known in Hausa as ‘Maremare.’
The destructive caterpillars have swept through farms in parts of Birniwa, leaving behind damaged crops, financial losses and worried farmers who say they have few alternatives to agriculture for their livelihoods.
Abdullahi told Daily Trust that the pest destroyed more than 90 per cent of his bean crop, turning what he had expected to be a productive season into a season of uncertainty.
‘I planted about six mudus of beans and expected to harvest more than 20 bags, but the armyworm destroyed the farm,’ he said.
The loss is not only about the crops already destroyed. For farmers like Abdullahi, every damaged plant represents money spent on seeds, land preparation, labour, fertiliser and other inputs.
He said the Birniwa Local Government Council had responded by providing pesticides and giving farmers advice on how to manage the infestation.
According to him, the state government has also dispatched a technical team to assess the level of damage suffered by farmers.
The farmers are now waiting for possible intervention, hoping that the assessment will translate into assistance that can help them recover from the losses.
Other farmers across Birniwa also had similar experiences.
Abba Ibrahim, another farmer, said he lost more than 25 bags of beans and 12 bags of sesame to the armyworm infestation.
Ibrahim appealed to the government and other relevant organisations to come to the assistance of affected farmers, saying they had no other means of replacing what they had lost.
Beans and sesame are not merely crops grown for household consumption. They are sources of income for rural families and help farmers pay school fees, medical bills, food expenses and other household costs.
For Alhaji Kadai Yarda, the loss was comparatively smaller, but still painful. He said he lost about six bags of beans as a result of the infestation.
Yarda confirmed that the local government had assisted farmers with pesticides, an intervention he said was important in controlling the pest.
Sama’ila Muhammad Dalari also narrated how the armyworm invaded his farm, destroying his beans and causing him to lose about 15 bags of expected produce.
Another farmer, Haruna Maidugu, estimated his loss at seven bags of beans. Maidugu explained that farming was the foundation of his household’s survival.
He said he normally relied on what he produced from his farm, buying only a few other necessities with cash. He would eat part of his harvest and sell the remainder to obtain money for household expenses.
‘But the armyworm has destroyed the farm,’ he said.
For farmers like Maidugu, the damage therefore goes beyond a reduction in agricultural income. It threatens the food supply of families that depend on their own farms to survive.
Adamu Aminu Malindi said the infestation destroyed crops equivalent to about 16 bags of beans.
Like several other affected farmers, Malindi said they were now waiting for government intervention because they had limited options.
Iliyasu Abdullahi Gomari said he expected about 20 bags of beans from his farm, with much of the produce intended to support family responsibilities, including preparations for his children’s weddings.
Instead, he said, the armyworm has consumed a substantial portion of his investment.
The affected farmers therefore called for assistance ranging from agricultural inputs and pesticides to other forms of support that could enable them to recover and return to production.
Govt’s intervention
The Jigawa State Agricultural Transformation Agency (JATA) said the government became aware of the outbreak after receiving reports from its field extension agents and the district head.
The Director-General of JATA, Dr Saifullahi Umar, told Daily Trust that the agency responded by sending a technical team to assess the situation.
According to him, the team conducted a rapid assessment of the affected farms and profiled the farmers who suffered losses.
Umar said the government had also provided immediate agrochemicals and technical advice to affected farmers to help them control the pest and minimise further damage.
The JATA director-general linked the increasing risk of pest outbreaks to changing weather patterns.
He explained that periods of high temperatures followed by prolonged interruptions in rainfall could create conditions favourable for pests and diseases.
According to him, climate change has become an important factor that agricultural authorities must consider when preparing farmers for emerging threats.
Farmers need to be educated on how to identify pests and diseases early, while agricultural authorities need rapid-response mechanisms capable of intervening before infestations become widespread, he said.
Experts warn of wider agricultural consequences
An agricultural expert at the Federal University Dutse, Prof. Ado Garba Jangargari, said armyworms are highly destructive moth larvae capable of causing rapid damage to crops.
He explained that the pests commonly attack cereal crops such as maize, rice, sorghum and wheat, as well as grasses and some vegetables.
Armyworms can spread rapidly across farmland, feeding heavily on vegetation and leaving plants severely defoliated.
According to Jangargari, younger larvae scrape the surface of leaves, producing a characteristic ‘windowpane’ appearance, while older larvae can consume entire leaves, leaving behind only damaged midribs.
In crops such as maize, the larvae can penetrate the plant’s whorl and destroy its central growing point.
The consequences can be severe when infestation occurs during critical stages of crop development.
‘When feeding is severe, the plant loses its ability to produce sufficient food through photosynthesis, resulting in stunted growth and potentially complete crop failure,’ he explained.
The expert said the pests could also attack grain-producing parts of plants, creating openings through which fungal and bacterial infections could develop.
The result is a combination of lower yields, poor-quality produce and financial losses for farmers.
Jangargari said farmers should not wait until armyworms have spread across their farms before taking action.
He recommended regular monitoring of farms and early identification of suspicious signs.
Among the measures he recommended is early planting, combined with regular removal of weeds, particularly wild grasses that can provide breeding grounds for pests.
He also advocated intercropping with crops that are less attractive to the pest as part of an integrated approach to pest management.