Tropical American pest devours corn fields across Asia

Fall armyworms spread over entire region in just a year, risking up to 20% of crops

Workers spray insecticide on a corn field infested with fall armyworms in Thailand's Nakhon Ratchasima Province. © Reuters

MARWAAN MACAN-MARKAR, Asia regional correspondent

July 15, 2019 12:16 JST

BANGKOK -- An invasive pest native to the Americas is feasting on corn fields across a wide swathe of Asia, raising concerns about a likely drop in cereal production in 2019 harvests.

By early July, 10 countries including India and China had detected the presence of fall armyworms, the larval stage of the armyworm moth, native to tropical and subtropical regions of the Americas.