Invasive species costing Africa $3.66 trillion a year: study

The species found to cause the most crop losses was a moth known as Phthorimaea absoluta, which affects tomato plants, at an estimated cost of $11.4 billion annually.

Invasive species introduced by human activity are costing African agriculture some $3.66 trillion every year — around 1.5 times the combined gross domestic product of all African countries — new research showed Thursday. Non-native species of weed, insect or worm can have catastrophic effects on farming, with just a single bug capable of reducing yields of staple crops across the continent. Now researchers based in Ghana, Kenya, Britain and Switzerland have sought to estimate the annual economic hit caused by invasive species to African agriculture.