they're not that big and don't look particularly threatening. but these little monsters can destroy livelihoods throughout entire regions for nomi worm is a glutton for corn and corn is africa's stateful food analysts say the worm has devastated over half of this year's crop costing farmers billions what if we put it into sacks we'd have less than ten sacks of maize you can work out the last thing a kilo of maize is worth one dollar fifty and this will most cape verde farmers don't even have enough seeds to plant next year's crop now even the oldest among them have never seen an infestation like this there's some experience of a domestic species of army worm but it wasn't nearly as rapacious. like being trained and i warned the people who called on me to check that we were definitely dealing with the fall army were. introduced accidentally to africa the fall army