Farmers to benefit from new climate-smart initiative to control fall armyworm
The Nairobi-based International Centre for Insect Physiology and Ecology (Icipe) has received Sh459 billion to test and adapt fall armyworm control measures to smallholder farmers environments.
In recent years, the centre has developed a package of techniques that integrate the Icipe push–pull technology, natural enemies, biopesticides and sex pheromones.
The funding for the Promotion of Innovation in Agriculture (i4Ag) will allow one million farmers to benefit from the new initiative.
Through a project known as Agroecological Innovations for Smallholder Pest Management (EcoPM), icipe and partners will reach one million farmers in Eastern Africa.
The fall armyworm is a destructive moth that causes devastating damage to almost 100 plant species, including cereals, grasses and a variety of horticultural crops.
Originally from the western hemisphere, the fall armyworm landed on the African soil in 2016 has since spread to many nations in the continent
By 2022, the fall armyworm had caused an average annual loss of 36 per cent in maize production alone; and a total economic loss of between Sh140 and Sh840 billion per year in Africa.
Attacks from the pest has worsened the already dire situation in Africa’s agriculture due to effects of climate change that led to drier and hotter weather, depleted soils, and increased outbreaks of indigenous and invasive pests.
“Through extensive research on the pest’s ecology in Africa, icipe has developed a climate-smart, agroecological management package that addresses the direct damage by the fall armyworm, as well as the range of obstacles affecting cereal production in Africa,” notes Dr Thomas Dubois, Icipe Head of Plant Health Theme and lead researcher of EcoPM.
The fall armyworm management innovations developed by icipe are already being used by farmers in various countries in Eastern and Southern Africa, where they are highly effective.
The new initiative will use digital tools like social media networks and multi-stakeholder platforms, as well as non digital tools to disseminate information.
Researchers will will monitor fall armyworm dynamics, develop early-warning systems, assess demand for innovations, facilitate knowledge exchange and feedback from end-users, and target disadvantaged groups, especially women and youth.
The Nairobi-based International Centre for Insect Physiology and Ecology (Icipe) has received Sh459 billion to test and adapt fall armyworm control measures to smallholder farmers environments.
In recent years, the centre has developed a package of techniques that integrate the Icipe push–pull technology, natural enemies, biopesticides and sex pheromones.
The funding for the Promotion of Innovation in Agriculture (i4Ag) will allow one million farmers to benefit from the new initiative.
Through a project known as Agroecological Innovations for Smallholder Pest Management (EcoPM), icipe and partners will reach one million farmers in Eastern Africa.
The fall armyworm is a destructive moth that causes devastating damage to almost 100 plant species, including cereals, grasses and a variety of horticultural crops.
Originally from the western hemisphere, the fall armyworm landed on the African soil in 2016 has since spread to many nations in the continent
By 2022, the fall armyworm had caused an average annual loss of 36 per cent in maize production alone; and a total economic loss of between Sh140 and Sh840 billion per year in Africa.
Attacks from the pest has worsened the already dire situation in Africa’s agriculture due to effects of climate change that led to drier and hotter weather, depleted soils, and increased outbreaks of indigenous and invasive pests.
“Through extensive research on the pest’s ecology in Africa, icipe has developed a climate-smart, agroecological management package that addresses the direct damage by the fall armyworm, as well as the range of obstacles affecting cereal production in Africa,” notes Dr Thomas Dubois, Icipe Head of Plant Health Theme and lead researcher of EcoPM.
The fall armyworm management innovations developed by icipe are already being used by farmers in various countries in Eastern and Southern Africa, where they are highly effective.
The new initiative will use digital tools like social media networks and multi-stakeholder platforms, as well as non digital tools to disseminate information.
Researchers will will monitor fall armyworm dynamics, develop early-warning systems, assess demand for innovations, facilitate knowledge exchange and feedback from end-users, and target disadvantaged groups, especially women and youth.
