On September 04, 2020, a virtual training session on “Integrated Pest Management for Maize Crop with special reference to Fall Armyworm (FAW) in North East Hill (NEH) region" was conducted by FAO India and the Indian Institute of Maize Research (IIMR) of the Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR) for agriculture extension officers of state departments and scientists of the NEH region.

The training webinar organized under FAO’s project “Time-critical measures to support early warning and monitoring, and sustainable management of the Fall Armyworm (FAW) in India” was attended by 62 participants from the Indian Institute of Maize Research, ICAR; the Indian Institute of Millet Research, Hyderabad; agricultural extension officers of state departments and scientists of ICAR, Krishi Vigyan Kendras and the State Agriculture University of the NEH region. The objective of this training was to enable participants to adopt Integrated Pest Management (IPM) practices in a sustainable manner in the respective maize growing regions and to orient research programs for the management of the FAW.

The inaugural session was graced by Dr. N. Sathyanarayana, Joint Director, Directorate of Plant Protection Quarantine & Storage, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare (MoA&FW) and Dr. Konda Chavva, Assistant FAO Representative (Programmes) in India.

This training which was facilitated by representatives from FAO India, the ICAR-IIMR and the ICAR Research Complex for NEH Region of regional Centre Manipur, commenced with a discussion on the incidence of FAW in India. The facilitators also emphasized the need for strengthening monitoring and surveillance towards the early detection of FAW incidence on maize and to advice the farmers on the timely and sustainable management techniques using FAO’s Fall Armyworm monitoring and early warning systems (FAWMES) application.

The training program covered the following topics: Biological identification; use of different approaches including the agro-ecological approaches for the management of FAW; landscape level management; and the use of safer pesticides including effective bio-pesticides, and locally-available natural biocontrol agents in effectively managing the threat of FAW.

This training program underlined the immediate need to integrate cultural, mechanical, chemical and biological measures, early warning systems along with IPM to support farmers in managing FAW economically.

The training program ended with concluding remarks by the training coordinators, Mr. Rajesh Dubey, National Operations and Program Officer, FAO India and Dr. J. C. Sekhar, Principal Scientist & I/c, Winter Nursery Centre, ICAR-Indian Institute of Maize Research.