Pests have attacked Kayunga district, destroying hundreds of hectares of coffee plantations sending area coffee farmers in panic according to the Uganda Ministry Agriculture.

The Commissioner in charge of crop protection in the Uganda Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries, Bulegeya Komayombi told journalists today (25th June 2010) that the pest is moving at a fast rate and if not stopped all coffee plantations in the area risk drying.

He says the pest has been identified as the coffee stem borer. Komayombo says the pest has destroyed coffee plantations in Kitimbwa, Kayonza, Kayunga and Kangulumira Sub Counties of Eastern Uganda district of Kayunga.

Uganda Agriculture Minister, Hope Mwesigye

Komayombi says most of the coffee plantations in the affected sub counties have dried up leaving farmers with nothing to sell to enable them earn a leaving.

The small black pests put holes in the coffee twigs where they lay eggs that hatch into larvae which feed on the stem until it dries up.

The Uganda Agriculture ministry official further advises coffee farmers to cut down the affected plants and burn them as a way of controlling the spread of the pest.

Komayombi urged all farmers in the district to work together to control the spread of coffee pests in the district.

Coffee remains one of Uganda’s leading export earner

Wlakira Nyanzi, Ultimate Media