Abigail Kadirire picks a dark green caterpillar with white stripes off a ragged and torn maize plant and puts it on her palm. She is clearly distressed.
"This is the second time this farming season that I am seeing it in my fields," the 42-year-old single mother-of-six said in Kamutepe village, in the northern Rushinga area, some 250 km (155 miles) from the capital Harare.
She was referring to the fall armyworm, a caterpillar that feeds on plants and is becoming more common in Zimbabwe and other African countries, partly because of climate change.
Kadirire's crops failed in the 2023-24 season as the worst drought in decades wreaked havoc across southern Africa, leaving millions of people hungry and economies faltering.
The unprecedented drought was fuelled by El Niño, a climate phenomenon that can exacerbate drought or storms - weather conditions that are made more likely by climate change.
Last year, like millions of Zimbabweans and people in neighbouring countries, Kadirire survived on food aid.
She planted a new crop of the staple food maize late last year but it wilted in the punishing heat.
"I sowed again in early January 2025 after struggling to get the seeds. Then fall armyworm came and ravaged my maize crops," she said.
- Village Rhapsody: In Zimbabwe poverty is biting the poor the most
- Zim maize output to drops by 43%
- Village Rhapsody: In Zimbabwe poverty is biting the poor the most
- Zim maize output to drops by 43%
Keep Reading
"I thought this year I was going to have a good harvest, but it is now uncertain because of the pests."
Native to the Americas, the armyworm was first detected in central and western Africa in early 2016, and within two years had spread across almost all of sub-Saharan Africa, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
The pests, which derive their name from the way they march across the landscape, attack young maize plants at their growing points and burrow into the cobs.
"Climate change has contributed to outbreaks of migratory pests beyond their regions of origin, notably the fall armyworm," said Patrice Talla, a subregional coordinator for Southern Africa at the FAO.
Supercharged by climate change
Talla said more erratic rainfall and rising temperatures have created favourable conditions for the proliferation of various pests in Zimbabwe and throughout Africa.
"Global climate warming triggers an expansion of insect geographic coverage, increasing overwintering survival and the number of generations," said Talla, who is also an FAO representative in Eswatini, Lesotho and Zimbabwe.
Last December, African armyworm, a related caterpillar, was also recorded in several provinces across Zimbabwe.
Simbarashe Nyamasoka, acting deputy director in the Migratory Pests Control Department under the Ministry of Lands, said climate change has led to the prevalence of warm temperatures and wet condition, allowing pests to expand their geographical range.
"Climate change has altered migratory patterns, allowing the armyworm to invade new areas more easily, potentially affecting agricultural regions that were previously less affected," Nyamasoka told Thomson Reuters Foundation/Context.
Loss in yields
Malawi, Zambia, Togo, Benin and Swaziland have also been affected by fall armyworm, which reduces maize yields by up to 73% and inflicts annual economic losses valued at $9.4 billion in Africa alone, according to FAO.
"Reduced (maize) harvests result in lower incomes for affected households, compromising their capacity to buy food and other necessities," Talla said.
Farmer Simon Manguri from Kaidza, another village in Rushinga, said his harvest this year would only be half of what he expected after fall armyworm infested his fields in January.
"Farming is my only source of income. I sell surplus to the government earning money to feed, clothe and send my children to school," said the father-of-five.
In January, the government sent alerts via social media and radios about the armyworm outbreak, providing information on control measures, including which pesticides to use. But some farmers, like Manguri, were not able to get pesticides quickly.
Dr. Christian Thierfelder, a principal cropping systems agronomist at CIMMYT, a non-profit agriculture research organisation, said the environmental effect of pesticides was also a consideration so farmers were also exploring traditional practices like intercropping and multiple cropping.
"And also the use of methods and practices ... like push-pull systems where you have legumes integrated with maize that repel fall armyworm," he said.
Farmer Simon Manguri picks fall armyworm off his maize crops in Rushinga, Zimbabwe, Feb. 18, 2025. Farai Shawn Matiashe/Thomson Reuters FoundationFarmer Simon Manguri picks fall armyworm off his maize crops in Rushinga, Zimbabwe, Feb. 18, 2025. Farai Shawn Matiashe/Thomson Reuters Foundation
Talla said farmers could also use the Fall Armyworm Monitoring and Early Warning System (FAMEWS), a mobile app developed by the FAO to record data on fall armyworm through pheromone trap checks and field scouting.
However, many farmers are unable to download the app, particularly in remote, rural areas.
Nyamasoka said climate-resilient agriculture, integrated pest management and regenerative agriculture are vital.
"Adopting climate-smart agricultural practices such as drought-resistant crops, intercropping, and organic composting, promoting practices that enhance soil health and biodiversity... and combining biological, cultural, mechanical, and chemical methods helps manage the pests sustainably," Nyamasoka said.
Some of these techniques are already being used in countries like Ethiopia, where farmers have managed to control fall armyworm using the quality of seeds, soil management and traditional pesticides made from chilli plants and cattle urine.
Kadirire is hoping rains, which started January, continue in March so she can at least harvest some other crops, like groundnuts, which armyworm ignore.
She is worried she may have to resort to food handouts again at a time when the future of aid funding is uncertain. U.S. President Donald Trump announced a 90-day freeze on foreign aid in January.
"It is not easy to survive on handouts. But after the fall armyworm decreased yields on my maize crop this year, it appears I will survive on handouts again," Kadirire said. - Context News
