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Burkina Faso: Impact of fall armyworm on maize production, livelihoods and food security

DIEM-Impact report, July 2023: Executive summary












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    Burkina Faso: Impact of fall armyworm on maize production, livelihoods and food security
    DIEM-Impact report, July 2023
    2023
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    Since its appearance in 2016, fall armyworm has spread to many countries and remains one of the main threats to agriculture and food security in Africa. Among the countries affected by fall armyworm in West Africa and the Sahel, Burkina Faso was selected for this assessment based on the production level of maize, level of fall armyworm infestation and associated recorded or estimated crop losses, presence of other shocks and level of food insecurity. In addition, the Cadre Harmonisé analysis indicated that 12 percent of the population was in Phase 3+ over the second half of 2022, the highest in West Africa. This impact assessment follows a methodology developed by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations' (FAO's) Data in Emergencies Information System (DIEM), articulated in three steps: a household survey, a scouting exercise to measure the level of fall armyworm infestation, and a crop cutting experiment conducted at harvest time to determine the yields. The objective was to assess the impact of fall armyworm on maize production, and the livelihoods and food security of maize farmers in Burkina Faso. FAO established DIEM-Impact to provide a granular and rapid understanding of the impact of large-scale hazards on agriculture and agricultural livelihoods using a variety of assessment methodologies, including primary and secondary information, remote sensing technologies, and FAO’s damage and loss methodology. DIEM-Impact presents a regularly updated and accessible assessment of the state of food insecurity in fragile environments and helps underpin FAO's programming based on evidence.
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    FAO Global Symposium on Sustainable Fall Armyworm Management
    Charting a global response to future invasive pests
    2024
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    The fall armyworm (FAW), which originated in the Americas, has invaded more than 80 countries in Africa, the Near East, Asia and the Pacific, and Europe. It reduces maize yields byup to 73 percent and inflicts economic losses worth USD 9.4 billion in Africa alone. To address these challenges, Director-General Qu Dongyu launched the Global Action on FallArmyworm Control in 2019 to coordinate efforts while adopting an integrated pest management (IPM) approach. Since then, FAO has been working with stakeholders andpartners through this programme to reach impact on a scale – at global, regional and national levels. Outcomes were showcased at the FAO Global Symposiumon Sustainable Fall Armyworm Management held in Beijing, China, from 31 October to 2 November 2023. The symposium focused on “Charting a global response tofuture invasive pests” and brought together more than 40 speakers and 200 worldwide participants. They shared their best practices and exchanged valuable knowledge,drawing lessons from the past and laying a robust foundation for the active prevention and sustainable response to future biological invasions. These proceedings reflect this symposium.
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    Guideline
    Technical guidance on fall armyworm
    Coordinated surveillance and an early warning system for the sustainable management of transboundary pests, with special reference to fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda [J.E. Smith]) in South and Southeast Asia
    2022
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    Worldwide, maize is the third most important cereal after rice and wheat. It occupies 197 million hectares of planted area. Asia contributes to nearly 30 percent of global maize supplies, and area and production of the crop is rapidly increasing in the continent. Minimum support prices, swelling market demand from the animal feed and processing industries, as well as human consumption, have all led to increased maize production in zones where precipitation limits rice cultivation. However, maize production is currently threatened by the arrival in Asia (in 2018) of the fall armyworm (FAW), Spodoptera frugiperda (J. E. Smith) – a native to North America. It invaded India in 2018 and since then it has marched to most of the Asian countries. In 2019, its presence was confirmed in 13 Asian countries including Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, the Philippines, the Republic of Korea, Sri Lanka, and Viet Nam. In 2020, it was confirmed in Australia, Timor-Leste and Papua New Guinea. In August 2021, it reached the Solomon Islands, posing a serious threat to other Pacific islands. FAW is a fast-dispersing, migratory, transboundary insect pest. While high FAW incidences have been reported on several crops in Asia, the most important economic damage caused is to maize (followed by sorghum). The FAW invasion threatens the food security of millions of family farms in Asia, with smallholder farmers being especially vulnerable. The negative economic impact of FAW is not only evident in yield loss: the pest also leads to a significant increase in insecticide applications, with associated health, environmental and cost issues. At the same time, resilience to FAW on the continent is currently weakened by the limited access to necessary tools, technologies and sustainable integrated pest management (IPM) practices for FAW. Thus, there is an urgent need to implement an effective approach to FAW management in Asia.

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    The FAOSTAT emissions database is composed of several data domains covering the categories of the IPCC Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Use (AFOLU) sector of the national GHG inventory. Energy use in agriculture is additionally included as relevant to emissions from agriculture as an economic production sector under the ISIC A statistical classification, though recognizing that, in terms of IPCC, they are instead part of the Energy sector of the national GHG inventory. FAO emissions estimates are available over the period 1961–2018 for agriculture production processes from crop and livestock activities. Land use emissions and removals are generally available only for the period 1990–2019. This analytical brief focuses on overall trends over the period 2000–2018.