A South African scientist, Letodi Luki Mathulwe, has identified a naturally occurring soil fungus that kills the African armyworm, a caterpillar pest that devastates maize and sorghum crops across east and southern Africa. She made the discovery after noticing dead, fungus-covered caterpillars in KwaZulu-Natal fields during a 2025 outbreak that had spread from northern South Africa.
Her peer-reviewed findings show the fungus works against mature armyworm populations, a stage for which no effective chemical treatment currently exists. The pest also secretes a compound in grass that sickens livestock, and past outbreaks have destroyed up to 40% of a season's maize crop, as happened in Zambia in 2017, while driving up food prices in countries already battling steep inflation.
Mathulwe says more testing is needed before the fungus can become a usable product for farmers, but hopes it will eventually ease the panic that armyworm sightings currently cause.
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