Fall armyworms decimate crops in the Philippines

Shuchita Jha

The Philippines has been struggling with the fall armyworm infestation - that destroys corn, rice, wheat and sugarcane crops - since 2019. This invasive pest is native to the Americas but is rapidly spreading across other continents like Africa, Asia and the Pacific countries.
Scientists believe that warmer temperature and erratic rainfall, due to climate change, coupled with the 2023-24 El Nino effect provided ideal conditions for the worms to thrive and multiply.

Since these worms hide inside leaves and hollow of stalks, they need to be pick out by hand - an almost impossible feat - as insecticides do not reach these parts of the plants.

Shuchita Jha

Shuchita is a journalist with over 10 years of experience. Her work, in multimedia format, focuses on the interconnectedness of the environment, climate change, energy transition, and human rights. She is an accredited Solutions Journalism trainer.

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Shuchita Jha

Shuchita is a journalist with over 10 years of experience. Her work, in multimedia format, focuses on the interconnectedness of the environment, climate change, energy transition, and human rights. She is an accredited Solutions Journalism trainer.

Manon Verchot

Manon is a multimedia journalist and co-founder of InOldNews, the organization that runs Neighbird. She formerly headed video at Mongabay, Hindustan Times and Mint.

Sanshey Biswas

Starting his career as a print journalist in '14 at a weekly newspaper in India, he quickly gravitated to working on the digital side. He is a self-taught multimedia journalist who loves to learn from and with his colleagues spread across the globes.