A mobile app and a global platform for managing fall armyworm

FAO

A mobile app and a global platform for managing fall armyworm

Guidance note 10

Year of publication 2020

Place of publication Rome, Italy ;

Pages 4p.

Author FAO

Publisher FAO ;

Product type Brochure, flyer, fact-sheet

Edition 1

Full item page

Synopsis (short abstract) Fall Armyworm (FAW) is a dangerous transboundary insect native to tropical and subtropical regions of America that now has spread to most African countries and Asia, threatening food security and livelihoods of millions of smallholder farmers. To respond to this global threat, FAO has developed a Fall Armyworm Monitoring and Early Warning System (FAMEWS), which is a tool used to monitor FAW regularly for understanding pest behaviour, ecology and movement. FAMEWS supports decision-making based on evidence data collected for sustainable management of the pest. FAMEWS provides information to all levels, including government, international organizations, NGOs, researchers and farmers.

Language English

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The Fall Armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda), FAW, is an insect native to tropical and subtropical regions of the Americas. In the absence of natural control or good management, it can cause significant damage to crops. It prefers maize, but can feed on more than 80 additional species of crops, including rice, sorghum, millet, sugarcane, vegetable crops and cotton. FAO is taking an active role in coordinating partners’ activities, plans and approaches to provide sustainable solutions to the FAW challenge. An integral part of FAO’s sustainable management programme for FAW in Africa is the FAW Monitoring and Early Warning System (FAMEWS) that consists of a mobile app for data collection and a global platform for mapping the current situation.
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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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This brochure highlights the successful outcomes from the implementation of the four-year Global Action for Fall Armyworm Control. Since the first report in Africa in 2016, fall armyworm (FAW) has invaded over 80 countries in Africa, the Near East, Asia and the Pacific, and Europe. It reduces maize yields by up to 73 percent and inflicts economic losses worth USD 9.4 billion in Africa alone. In response, FAO launched the Global Action for Fall Armyworm Control in 2019, a collaborative approach to coordinate pest control while promoting integrated pest management (IPM). Working with farmers, farmer groups, Farmer Field Schools (FFS), NGOs, national and international research institutes, extension services as well as government officials, the Global Action has developed a global platform to coordinate plant health research, extension and policy support across disciplines and at different scales.