Fourth Meeting of the Steering Committee for FAO’s Global Action on Fall Armyworm Control

Fourth Meeting of the Steering Committee for 
FAO’s Global Action on Fall Armyworm Control

Opening remarks 

Director-General Dr QU Dongyu

(16 April 2021)

As prepared

 

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening!

1. I am pleased to welcome you to the fourth meeting of the Steering Committee of the FAO Global Action on Fall Armyworm Control.

2. I thank you for your continued participation in this Committee and your commitment to halt the spread of this pest. 

3. A pest that has affected over 70 countries across Africa, the Near East, Asia and Oceania, contributing to the acute food insecurity of 26 million people. 

4. Since we last met in December 2020, much progress has been made through this Global Action. Let me share a few highlights:

• The 8 demonstration countries have initiated action in their geographic zones to address FAW’s impact on yield losses.    
• National task forces have been activated in these countries, and consultations have been held at the regional level to develop integrated pest management (IPM) strategies and to facilitate outreach to over 50 pilot countries.
• The demonstration countries are currently developing two-year work plans for monitoring, technology evaluation, demonstration, and capacity building, as well as for regional information-sharing. 
• 8 geographic zone meetings have been organized to link each demonstration country with scale-up countries from North-east Asia to West Africa. 
• To date, more than 50 countries have attended the geographic zone coordination meetings. 
• Technical training workshops on IPM and monitoring have been held in all of the target regions. 
• During 2020, 1.4 million farmers in Africa were trained on scouting, monitoring, on the use of bio-pesticides and pesticides, as well as nature-based solutions for FAW management. 
• In the Near East and North Africa, over 1 500 experts were trained on identification, monitoring, biocontrol, and mass rearing of natural enemies in 2020.
• In China, 14 000 professional technicians and 3.8 million farmer technicians were trained on various technical topics, including FAW monitoring and control, last year.

5. While the FAO Technical Cooperation Programme has been a catalytic force to support a number of these efforts, it is thanks to the excellent network among key stakeholders in the different countries that we have achieved these results together.

6. A new Working Group on Resource Mobilization has also been established to identify ways to support the Global Action, with members from multilateral development banks, national and regional development cooperation agencies, philanthropic foundations, the private sector, and FAO.  

Dear colleagues and friends, 

7. There is still a lot of work ahead of us.   

8. National and regional monitoring and early warning capacities must be strengthened.

9. Efforts to ensure effective technology transfer and capacity development in demonstration and pilot countries need to be intensified.

10. And, more resources need to be mobilized.

11. For all of this, coherent efforts, strong collaboration, and concrete support are needed.

12. Together, we can make a difference!

13. I look forward to a productive meeting today.

Thank you.