Aswan, Egypt - The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) held a regional workshop in Aswan, Egypt, for Farmers Field Schools (FFS) on the Red Palm Weevil (RPW), from 20 to 24 November, with the participation of representatives and experts from 6 countries from North Africa.

Participants from 6 North African countries and experts in Integrated Pest Management

The workshop, in which officials from Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, and Mauritania participated, supported the use of FFS and its role in implanting sustainable solutions for Red Palm Weevil eradication.

Three experts from each country participated in the workshop. FAO RPW Eradication Program is supporting the implementation of FFS, since the beginning of this year, in Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia to enhance the participation of farmers on sustainable management of RPW.

In his opening remarks, Thaer Yaseen, the Regional Plant Protection officer at FAO regional office for the Near East and North Africa, confirmed that RPW is one of the most dangerous palm pests that causes great losses to the date palm sector in the Arab region and the world.

“Despite the active role women play in the date palm value chain, their role in the FFS still need to be valorized and should be strategically promoted” Yaseen emphasized. He added that the countries participating in the workshop will review the current FFS manual for managing the RPW before publishing the updated version with changes.

The RPW regional programme addresses three principal areas: research, technology transfer, and capacity building. FAO is leading projects in the areas of RPW monitoring and early detection, farmer participation, control technologies, socio-economic impact, phytosanitary systems, border protocols, and production of certified palm material.

“FFS works to consolidate knowledge awareness of farmers and contribute to increasing production and building great capabilities to adopt a system of scientific joint work aimed at increasing production and adopting modern technologies,” Ibrahim Al-Jubouri, FAO advisor, said.

“The workshop paves the way for exchanging information and experiences between farmers and transferring the experiences of North African countries, in addition to discussing the FFS role in fighting the RPW among the participants to exchange views and develop the current version of the FFS manual for future circulation,” Mohamed Ali Bob, FAO Date Palm expert, explained.

According to the statistics of the International Dates Council, Arab countries account for 78% of the global production of dates by 8.5 tons annually. While the annual production of dates in Egypt, the country hosting the workshop, is about 1.8 million tons of wet, semi-dry, and dry varieties.

“Egypt produces 19.8% of the global production of dates, ranking first in the production of dates globally. The RPW threatens investments estimated at $ 13 billion worldwide,” Ahmed Abdel-Meguid, Director of the Research Institute and Plant Protection of the Egyptian Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation, said.

“The number of palm trees currently planted in Egypt reaches about 21 million trees, of which about 16 million are fruit trees in an area of more than 150,000 feddan”, he added.

The RPW is a pest affecting date palms, ornamental palms, and coconut palms. It attacks about 40 species of palms in more than 50 countries, causing widespread damage and losses to palm trees and other crops, threatening crops, reducing production, and negatively affecting the living conditions of farmers and the environment.

The FFS coincides with the meeting of the RPW Project Steering Committee which will be held in Aswan, Egypt from 23-24 November 2022. Members of the steering committee will attend the meeting joined by the technical and advisory committee, leaders of the Technical Working Groups, and leaders of the LOA agreements under the RPW project. The meeting will review and evaluate the progress of the programme, assess the development of the RPW situation and the efficiency of the programmes at the regional level and it will discuss activities undertaken and coordination of project partners' upcoming activities.

Photos Album