Large acres of vegetable and maize farms in the Assin South, Assin Central and Assin North districts of the Central Region, have been destroyed by army worms, threatening food security.

Mr Prince Opoku, Assin Central Municipal Crops Officer, who confirmed the invasion to the Ghana News Agency in an interview, described it as “widespread and devastating”.

He mentioned Akonfodi, Breku, Brofoyedru, Homaho, Abodweseso, Nkwanta, Odumasi and Andoe as the worse affected communities.

He said the worms lay their eggs on the leaves and hutch tiny caterpillars within three days to launch massive onslaught on food crops, flowers and stalk thereby impeding their growth.

They feed on several variety of crops, including staple foods, maize, cotton, soyabeans, potatoes and cash crops like cocoa.

Mr Opoku described the worms as nocturnal and urged the farmers to spray the affected farms in the night.

He advised farmers to cultivate proper farm sanitation management practices such as weeding, spraying and punning to curtail the spread of the worms.

Mr Kojo Nyarko, a farmer whose two- acre maize farm had been destroyed by the worms, called on the government to, as a matter of urgency, adopt necessary measures to prevent the worms from spreading to safeguard food security.