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Ranking Member of Parliamentary Select Committee on Agriculture, Hon. Eric Opoku has expressed his disappointment in President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for failing to address the army worm invasion of maize farms across the country.

According to the Member of Parliament for Asunafo South in the Brong Ahafo Region, President Akufo-Addo should have taken advantage of his maiden encounter with the media to assure farmers in maize cultivation his steps in dealing with the army worms.

Speaking on Okay FM’s 'Ade Akye Abia' Morning Show, Hon. Eric Opoku asserted that President Akufo-Addo in his response to the questions from the media indicated that he [Nana Addo] is not abreast with all the issues in government.

“When you critically listen to the President's response, he indicated that he is not abreast with all the issues in his government. Some of the questions, he directed them to the sector Ministers and the Vice President. This shows those six months in office, the President is not on top of issues in his government,” he indicated.

Hon. Eric Opoku again averred that if President Akufo-Addo is on top of issues, his open remarks should have included the army worm invasion as the Agric Minister in the month of May mentioned that the army worm had destroyed 1,400 hectares of farms.

“ . . the Agric Minister made us to understand that the army worm had destroyed 1,400 hectors of farms and as at May the Minister had bought insecticide to deal with the army worm, but in the first week of July, the Deputy Minister of Agriculture came to Parliament to say that the army worm has affected 112,000 hectares of farms, while 14,000 farms have been destroyed completely,” he revealed.

He however was of the view that Nana Addo’s led NPP government has lost control over the army worm invasion if the affected maize farms have moved from 1,400 hectares in May to 112,000 hectares in July; whereas 14,000 farms are completely destroyed by the army worm.

The Asunafo South MP feared that Ghana may experience serious famine with the rate at which the army worms are destroying maize as it is the major source of food for the country.

“So this is something serious I was expecting the President to address in his maiden media encounter to assure the farmers on the way forward to resolving the issue of army worm invasion,” he averred.

He asserted the farmers have come out to say that the insecticide given them by the Agriculture ministry is not effective enough to kill the army worm, reiterating that the farmers have improvised to use a mixture of detergent and pepper to spray their farms.

"Surprisingly, the farmers claim their local method is more effective than the insecticide the government has spent money on. This is a serious disaster in the country which I was expecting the President to talk about in his open remarks,” he indicated.

He mentioned that in some areas, the army worms are attacking cocoa farms; bemoaning that if the government is unable to kill these army worms in the maize farms, they will move to cocoa farms after destroying the maize farms.

“The farmers are helpless in this situation. The farmers want the government to declare state of emergency for all hands to come on deck as the situation is above the government to handle,” he stated.

The Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana is mounting pressure on the government to declare a state of emergency as fall army worms ravage farmlands across the country.

With over 112,000 farmlands infected so far and 14,000 farms completely destroyed, the farmers say the situation poses an existential threat to the livelihood of about 4 million farmers whose farmlands have been infested.