Global Action for Fall Armyworm Control

Over the last few years, fall armyworm (FAW) has rapidly spread around Africa, the Near East, Asia and the Pacific. Urgent action is required to prevent this pest from threatening the global food security and livelihoods of millions of smallholder families around the world.

FAO has developed a Global Action for Fall Armyworm Control to ensure a strong coordinated approach at country, regional and global levels. FAO’s new global initiative aims to take radical, direct and coordinated measures to strengthen prevention and sustainable pest control capacities at a global level.

The Global Action is massively scaling-up current FAO efforts against FAW thanks to multiple mechanisms that are available such as Farmer Field Schools, partnerships with research institutions and the private sector, South–South Cooperation, regional and national plant protection organizations and specific national FAW Task Forces.

The Global Action has three key objectives:

  • Reduce crop losses due to FAW by 5 percent in all demonstration countries and 10 percent in the pilot countries,
  • Decrease the risk of further spread and infestation in countries with limited presence of the pest, and
  • Establish a coordination mechanism at global, regional and national levels.

The Global Action is currently being implemented in a coordinated and harmonized manner in three regions: Africa, Near East and Asia-Pacific. Interventions are targeted at priority countries identified through FAO’s new data-driven Hand-in-Hand Initiative. This initiative pairs the world’s most developed countries with those with the highest poverty and hunger rates, and supports the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

The Global Action for FAW Control reinforces efforts to discourage the widespread use of highly hazardous chemical pesticides, and puts emphasis on prevention. It advocates a combination of robust monitoring and early warning systems – including FAO’s FAMEWS tool – along with integrated pest management as the basis for supporting farmers in managing FAW.

The Global Action established a global coordination mechanism for an open and collaborative dialogue towards common solutions. It also supports the establishment and scaling up of national Task Forces on FAW, and the mobilization of resources for applied research geared towards practical and efficient solutions.

These new efforts are complementing ongoing FAO activities on FAW. Over the last three years, FAO has already spearheaded 63 FAW-related projects, mostly in Africa, establishing many good practices and accumulating much valuable knowledge along the way. The Global Action supports the further dissemination and application of these knowledge resources in a more targeted and extensive manner, so that no one is left behind.

To read the implementation plan for the Global Action for Fall Armyworm Control click here