Thumbnail Image

Technical guidelines for sustainable management of fall armyworm in its year-round breeding areas

Guidance Note 9










Also available in:
No results found.

Related items

Showing items related by metadata.

  • Thumbnail Image
    Brochure, flyer, fact-sheet
    Technical guidelines for sustainable management of fall armyworm along its seasonal migration pathways
    Guidance note 11
    2020
    Also available in:
    No results found.

    This guidance note aims to provide recommendations on sustainable fall armyworm (FAW) control for national task forces for FAW control in Africa and Asia. It provides a brief background on the need to develop two complementary strategies for fall armyworm management: 1) one for the pest’s year-round breeding areas, 2) another one along the pest’s seasonal migration pathways. The guidance note then focuses on delineating strategies for fall armyworm control along its seasonal migration pathways. The note emphasizes the importance of surveillance and monitoring of FAW migration, feeding the data into an early warning system and disseminating early warning information widely to assist strategic decisions making upon the pest’s arrival in a new area along its migration pathways. The note adopts an Integrated Pest Management approach, integrating a suite of options including agroecological practices, biological control and use of pesticides as the last resort.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Book (stand-alone)
    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
    Also available in:
    No results found.

    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.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Brochure, flyer, fact-sheet
    Fall Armyworm Management - Sustainable Management of the Fall Armyworm (FAW) 2019
    Also available in:
    No results found.

    The Fall Armyworm (FAW), an insect pest native to the tropical and subtropical regions of the Americas, was first detected in West and Central Africa in early 2016. Since then, it has infested maize and other crops in more than 44 African countries, in addition to India and Yemen. The FAW is likely to continue to feed on key crops, threatening cereal production systems, as well as the food security and livelihoods of millions of Africans. FAO is implementing a programme to coordinate the global response to FAW. This includes the strengthening of national capacities to sustainably manage the pest. FAO provides farmers and other stakeholders with immediate information, helping them to design appropriate and sustainable integrated pest management (IPM) policies. Farmer Field Schools and other community-based programmes are key means of training farmers to develop simple, but effective monitoring tools and establishing a global early-warning system.

Users also downloaded

Showing related downloaded files

No results found.