@FAOGhana/David Youngs

Sustainable FAW management key to protecting public health, farmers’ livelihoods, and the environment

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), in collaboration with the Government of Ghana’s Plant Protection and Regulatory Services Directorate (PPRSD) of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, has enhanced the capacities of Agriculture Extension Agents (AEAs) across the country in fall armyworm (FAW) surveillance, monitoring and reporting using FAO’s FAMEWS mobile app for sustainable FAW management.

Through the support of its Global Action for Fall Armyworm Control (GA), FAO has developed and deployed the Fall Armyworm Monitoring and Early Warning System (FAMEWS) app to collect data on FAW at the farm level. The data is then collated for sharing at local, national and global levels to identify hotspots for management decisions, and foster early warning mechanisms for all stakeholders in the management of FAW.

FAW is expected to continue to feed on important crops and to spread further, threatening cereal production systems as well as the food security, food safety and livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people as farmers in Ghana commence their planting season. Support to smallholder farmers on sustainable management of FAW is critical to protecting farmers’ livelihoods and the environment.

According to Mr Copperfield Banini, Head of Crop Pest and Disease Management of PPRSD, the FAW menace can only be managed using a combination of different approaches known as integrated pest management (IPM). This involves the adoption of a variety of pest management strategies that interfere with the development of pest populations. Use of IPM also keeps pesticides and other interventions to levels that are economically justified, and reduces or minimizes risks to human and animal health, and the environment.

IPM emphasizes the growth of a healthy crop with the least possible disruption to agro-ecosystems and encourages natural pest control mechanisms. These direct actions, taken to manage FAW, are largely up to farmers in their fields, however. Thus, the main focus and majority of resources will be aimed at supporting farmers in applying IPM methods.

A specialist in FAO’s headquarters Jean Claude Rwaburindi told the training session “These farmers need knowledge, information, advice, tools, resources, risk management, and a conducive environment in which to sustainably manage FAW

“Farmers need to develop capacity in understanding what FAW is, its biology and ecology, identification and management. They need to be able to determine the risk level in the context of their production systems and take appropriate actions, both preventive and responsive, based on their assessments – hence, this training of AEAs, who provide this capacity development.”

The FAO Global Action for Fall Armyworm Control

In December 2019, FAO launched the pioneering Global Action for Fall Armyworm Control as an urgent response to the rapid spread of FAW. The global initiative takes radical, direct and coordinated measures to strengthen prevention and sustainable pest control capacities at a global level.

It complements and bolsters ongoing FAO activities on FAW. The GA has established a global coordination mechanism for an open and collaborative dialogue toward science-based solutions. It has also supported the establishment of National Task Forces on FAW in many countries, as well as the mobilization of resources for applied research geared towards practical and efficient solutions.

The GA primarily contributes to FAO’s Strategic Objective 2 aimed at making agriculture, forestry and fisheries more productive and sustainable. The GA also contributes to Strategic Objective 5 aimed at increasing the resilience of livelihoods to disasters, and to Strategic Objective 3 designed to reduce rural poverty. Ultimately, the GA will contribute to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, to which world leaders have committed to sustainably eradicating poverty and hunger; and particularly Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 1, 2, 3, 5, 13 and 15.