17 April 2019, Gaborone - The Government of Japan has contributed US$ 500 000 to fight Fall Armyworm (FAW) in the Republic of Botswana. The year long project, which was launched in the capital, Gaborone, will be implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), working closely with the Government of Botswana.

Through the project, FAO will work with the government and other stakeholders to improve awareness and strengthen capacity to protect crops in alignment with the guidelines for Sustainable Management of FAW. This project will assist 36 000 smallholder farmers to protect crops from the pest through capacity building to improve monitoring and early warning, preparedness and rapid reaction, and by introducing environmentally friendly control measures.

FAW was first reported in Botswana in 2017. The pest can travel long distances and reproduce in large numbers, devouring crops (including maize and sorghum) and reducing yields across the country. This will certainly have impact on the food security situation in the country, if it is not managed swiftly and effectively.

The Ambassador of Japan to Botswana, H.E. Mr. Kozo Takeda, said that recently, the effects of climate change, weather patterns, and the occurrence of worms and other pests has made it difficult to predict expected harvests.

“Therefore, there is a need to focus in the area of agriculture and rural development as these communities are the most susceptible to future crisis. In addition, it is necessary for farmers to learn how to deal with a worm infection in order to eradicate its proliferation,” said H.E. Takeda.

FAO Representative in Botswana, René Czudek said the project will focus on information dissemination as well as training to assist farmers deal with the threat of FAW.

“As part of the FAW management strategy to reach rural communities affected by FAW, farmer field schools will be combined with mass information campaigns, rural radio, participatory videos, community action plans for FAW management and short field courses for farmers and rural advisors based on experiential learning,” said Czudek.

Additionally, the project will see the establishment of community based FAW management aided by tools such as FAMEWS (Fall Armyworm Monitoring and Early Warning System) mobile application, FAW risk mapping and KOBOCollect mobile application (a tool to analyze the socio-economic impact of FAW) to guide field level decision-making for effective and timely response.

The project will purchase pheromone traps and mobile phones equipped with the FAMEWS App, which will be used for FAW monitoring, data collection and reporting. It will also provide training to stakeholders (extension officers, farmers and local communities) in the areas of early warning and sustainable management.

Given the severity and urgency of the threat posed by the FAW, the Government of Japan allocated funding for this project through its Supplementary Budget.

It is therefore expected that this project will greatly contribute to the ability of Botswana’s smallholder farmers to cope with the threat of FAW thus ensuring their food security and livelihoods.