FAO.org

Plant protection and extension officers as well as national focal points of the Global Action for Fall Armyworm Control from East African countries were recently trained in monitoring and sustainable management techniques for the insect pests fall armyworm (FAW) and African armyworm (AAW) in Rwanda’s capital city Kigali. 

The workshop, held 14-17 May 2024, also helped to strengthen coordination between demonstration and pilot countries involved in the Global Action, drawing approximately 30 participants from countries in East Africa including Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan and Uganda.  

Participants learned more about the biology and ecology of the FAW and AAW pests and how to recognize its presence on crops, as well as how best to use the FAMEWS mobile application to collect data from pheromone traps and from observations. Training was organized by FAO’s Subregional Office for Eastern Africa (SFE) with the financial support of the European Union. 

Assessing the level and extent of an infestation helps to inform the most appropriate management options through integrated pest management (IPM) approaches. Those options include cultural and biological control, and use of biopesticides for FAW and AAW management. Research and innovation are key to fighting these insect pests, participants were told. 

The four-day workshop included three days of training in theory and one day of practical field demonstrations at farm level, which included practice and trials with FAMEWS as well as pest scouting and pheromone trap management. Practical exercises focused on how to install and use the FAMEWS app. A practical exchange and demonstration session in the Rwanda Agriculture and Animal Resources Development Board (RAB)’s Rubona field station focused on identifying a FAW or AAW infestation, as well as collection and transfer of data to the FAMEWS Global Platform.  

FAMEWS is an online resource for mapping data collected by the FAMEWS mobile app each time fields are surveyed or pheromone traps are checked for the presence of insect pests. The platform provides a real-time situational overview with maps and analysis of FAW infestations at global, national and regional levels.

The data and maps provide valuable information on how FAW populations change over time with ecology to better understand the pest’s behaviour and guide best management practices. Similar to the mobile app, the global platform is designed to scale with the changing needs of farmers, analysts and policymakers. FAMEWS is freely accessible to everyone. 

Workshop participants were also trained in integrating information with FAO’s Hand in Hand Geospatial platform. 

FAW and AAW have become fast-spreading transboundary pests that pose a serious threat to the crops – including maize, millet, sorghum, rice, wheat, teff, barley – and livelihoods of millions of smallholder farmers in Africa, including East African countries.  

Every year, more than 40 percent of food crops are lost to pests and plant diseases. FAO and its partners are focusing on biological control agents that have shown significant impacts, including neem oil, intercropping practices with legumes and push-pull practices, and local plant extracts. 

In the region, FAO has worked with partners to promote sustainable plant production and protection to reduce poverty and eliminate hunger by using IPM techniques to control plant diseases and pests on small family farms to increase their productivity.