At least 460 farms have been destroyed by fall armyworms in Mundri West County of South Sudan's Western Equatoria State, an official has said. 

The Director for Agriculture in the County, Jaffrey Nelson, told Radio Tamazuj that the crop-eating caterpillars known as fall armyworms appeared in the region last month.

He said all the four payams of the county have been severely affected by the invasion of the pests. 

"The pests have affected crops planted in the months of April and May. The insects came at the beginning of the rains when people started planting for the first season," Nelson said. 

He adds, "The pests are so many and have invaded farms and destroyed crops. The pests, called caterpillars, have mostly affected crops like maize and sorghum. According to the information I got, all the four payams of Mundri West County have been attacked by the insect and more than 465 household farms affected."  

Nelson appealed for support as the people of the region are purely farmers and rely on their crops for food. 

He said urgent intervention is needed to save the farms. 

The fall armyworm, the larva of the night-flaying moth, is a pest indigenous to the Americas. It was first detected in Africa in early 2016.