Nepalgunj, October 23

American Armyworm has spread in almost every paddy field of Banke.

Armyworm has destroyed paddy in 20,000 hectare in the district, leaving the local farmers worried.

Farmers have formed the Army Worm Victim Protest Committee to press the government to provide compensation to farmers and to control the pest. Farmers have submitted a memorandum to Banke CDO Kumar Bahadur Khadka demanding that agriculture-related diseases be controlled.

Committee Chairman Ram Dhani Yadav led the protest committee that submitted the memorandum demanding early identification of the disease and availability of pesticide.

The memo also monitoring of paddy farms and collection of details of the destruction before providing compensation to farmers. The memorandum stated that initiatives have to be taken to compensate farmers and plans have to be made to save paddy farms from insects.

Paddy production will be halved compare to the past years because American armyworms destroyed the paddy. Crops Conservation Officer Shalik Ahamad Khan in Agriculture Knowledge Centre, Banke said Banke produced three metric tonnes paddy per hectare.