The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has announced the extension of its Global Action control for Fall Armyworm to 2023.
According to FAO, Plant pests are still causing massive destruction of crops despite progress in tackling it. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has disclosed to prolong its global drive against one of the world’s most invasive plant pests – fall armyworm – which is still destroying billions of dollars worth of crops despite progress and a raft of measures to tackle it.
As recently as 2016, only six African countries reported the pest, devouring dozens of different crops. Today, 78 countries in Africa, the Near East, Asia, and the Pacific are reporting it. Qu said that fall armyworm is estimated to cause up to USD 9.4 billion in annual yield losses in Africa alone. Fall armyworm knows no boundaries and is rapidly spreading across the globe.
FAO Director-General QU Dongyu
FAO measures to curtail the spread of fall armyworm
The spread of fall armyworm is driving intensified pesticide use, putting human and environmental health at risk. In response, the FAO Global Action for Fall Armyworm Control is coordinating comprehensive measures across Africa, the Near East, and Asia.
Some Global actions for the fall armyworm control by the FAO include establishing a functional coordination mechanism across global, regional, national, and farmer-field levels, testing Integrated Pest Management (IPM) tactics in eight geo-zones with good results, making maize hybrids tolerant to fall armyworm available from the International Wheat and Maize Improvement Center (CIMMYT) for testing and release in African countries and training efforts, in collaboration with government partners, reaching over 140 000 participants, mostly farmers and agricultural outreach workers.
Impact promising but more need to be done
Reports on the impact of these measures are promising. In Burkina Faso, yield losses caused by fall armyworm are reported to be consistently at or below 5 percent since 2020, and biopesticides and biological control have shown up to 90 percent field efficacy against the pest.
Despite these achievements, there are still challenges to be addressed. The pest continues to spread, exposing new farmers and their livelihoods; large-scale gatherings and training are still being impeded by COVID-19; IPM adoption and yield loss reduction is uneven from country to country; and use of hazardous pesticides persists.
In response, an extension of the timeline for the Global Action to the end of 2023 has been approved. The extension will enable increased dissemination of IPM technologies, and by increasing the Global Action’s scope, it will tackle multiple pest threats through sustainable plant health management, supporting the One Health Initiative.
FAO launched the Global Action for Fall Armyworm Control (2019-2022) in December 2019 as an urgent response to the rapid spread of fall armyworm. The initiative complements ongoing FAO activities on fall armyworm. The Global Action has established a coordination mechanism enabling open and collaborative dialogue for science-based solutions, supports the establishment of National Task Forces on fall armyworm control, and helps mobilize resources for applied research and technical outreach.
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