Workshop strengthens capacities to monitor, sustainably control spread of fall armyworm in Central Africa
Participants from nine countries taking information back home to share
A recent training workshop on using the FAMEWS mobile application to strengthen capacities for surveillance, monitoring and sustainable management of fall armyworm (FAW) drew 45 plant protection specialists from nine central African countries to Gabon’s capital Libreville.
Participants also learned more about the FAW pest and how to recognize its presence on corn crops, as well as how to install and use the FAMEWS app to collect data from the field and from the pheromone traps during the training 14-19 April 2024. Training was organized by FAO’s Sub-regional Office for Central Africa (SFC) in collaboration with the Global Action for Fall Armyworm Control.
Participants from Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and Sao Tome and Principe, learned that the most effective strategy for controlling FAW is based on early warning and acting immediately when FAW is detected. Assessing the level and extent of the infestation helps to inform the most appropriate management options.
Training sessions included practical exercises using FAMEWS. A practical exchange and demonstration session in a corn field focused on identification of a FAW infestation, collection and transfer of data to the FAMEWS Global Platform. That is an online resource for mapping data collected by the FAMEWS mobile app each time fields are surveyed or pheromone traps are checked for FAW’s presence. The platform provides a real-time situational overview with maps and analysis of FAW infestations at global, national and regional levels.
The data and maps provide valuable information on how FAW populations change over time with ecology to better understand the pest’s behaviour and guide best management practices. Similar to the mobile app, the global platform is designed to scale with the changing needs of farmers, analysts and policymakers. FAMEWS is freely accessible to everyone.
The training in strengthening the FAW surveillance system follows requests from Global Action focal points across the region and in these nine countries for training to strengthen capacities in the surveillance, monitoring and sustainable management FAW.
FAW has become a fast-spreading transboundary pest that continues to pose a serious threat to millions of smallholder farmers in Africa, including Central African countries. Every year, more than 40 percent of food crops are lost to pests and plant diseases. FAO and its partners are focusing on biological control agents that have shown significant impacts, including neem oil, intercropping practices with legumes and push-pull practices, and local plant extracts.
In the region, FAO has worked with partners to promote sustainable plant production and protection to reduce poverty and eliminate hunger by using integrated pest management (IPM) techniques to control plant diseases and pests on small family farms to increase their productivity. Partners include national ministries of agriculture and rural development, the International Institute of Agriculture (IIA), the University of Douala, the University of Dschang, and the Institute for Agricultural Research and Development.