Beni Sueif, Egypt - Among the efforts implemented within the Project (Emergency response to enhance the national capacity of Egypt for early warning, monitoring and management of Fall Armyworm), FAO and MALR conducted a training course to identify the pest and its negative impacts and how to carry out sustainable field measures for control.

This training course at Sids Station in Beni Sueif Governorate is of high impact as it is a regional research station and include three different stations concerned with crops, plant pest control and animal production, which increases the importance of the training course and cooperation with researchers and farmers in order to work on coordinating research in the coming years in order to reach viable sustainable solutions.

The training course was inaugurated by Dr. Khaled Al-Salmouni, head of the central administration of the research stations from the Ministry of Agriculture in Egypt. Dr. Thaer Yassin welcomed the attendees and stressed the importance of sustainable control of the pest using environmentally safe solutions. Dr. Ali Soliman, advisor to the Minister of Agriculture for Agricultural Quarantine and phtosanitary, stressed the need to continue transmitting the message and communicating with farmers for the safe use of pesticides. Dr. Sherif Thabet, the station's director, welcomed the attendees and wished them a successful training session.

During the training, Dr. Hassan Dahi, Professor of Entomology at the Plant Protection Research Institute, presented sustainable measures in integrated management after identifying the pest and how to control it, followed by Dr. Amani El Hefny, a consultant at the FAO office in Egypt, with a lecture on early monitoring and warning systems and the use of the FAMEWS application specialized in monotoring and early warning of Fall Armyworm and distributing of Traps and documenting the results of traps in the field, which will facilitate the establishing of control policies and monitoring the spread of the pest.

After the presentations, a field visit was conducted with all the trainees in one of the fields of the research station. Practical work was done to identify the pest and its various stages in the field, and then the FAMEWS application was actually used in order to facilitate field survey and to reach the obstacles that users face in order to overcome them.