FAO intensifies efforts to control devastating crop pest

FAO

·       * Train extension workers to control Fall Armyworm

As part of the efforts to ensure sustainable food and nutrition security in Nigeria, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations (UN) trained extension workers on the management and control of the Fall Armyworm (FAW). 

The crop-eating moth, which have devastated maize crop in over 40 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, remains a scourge for farmers in the region.

The government of Nigeria, through the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and FAO, signed a Technical Cooperation Project (TCP) agreement in 2017 to curtail the spread of Fall Armyworm in Nigeria.

Believed to have originated from the Americas, the FAW, was reported for the first time in Nigeria and some African countries in 2016. Biologically called Spodoptera frugiperda, the pest has a migratory habit and can spread fast, eating up crops on its path.

Though with a special preference for maize, the invasive pest is capable of feeding on over 80 different crop species, like, sorghum, peanut, soybean, cowpea, cotton, sweet corn, forage, and others, causing severe effects on food production output and livelihoods.

FAO Country Representative to Nigeria, Suffyan Koroma at the opening of the training workshop in Kaduna, charged the extension workers to take advantage of the FAW resource materials developed by FAO coupled with what they have learned to ensure that the impact on farmers within their communities are minimal.

FAO is working in 12 states (Borno, Kaduna, Jigawa, Katsina, Kano, Abia, Oyo, Ekiti, Ondo, Kwara, Osun states and the Federal Capital Territory, FCT), giving training to extension workers on FAW  basic biology, ecology, monitoring technique, reporting, biological control, cultural control, pest risk reduction, good agricultural practices (GAP), Integrated pest management (IPM), and  farmer field school (FFS) approach.

Koroma said, “FAO has continued to build and strengthen national capacity by conducting training and creating awareness to relevant stakeholders, especially agriculture and extension workers, on how to manage and control the pest. This training will be scaled-up to more states of the country”.

Beside the Fall Armyworm Monitoring and Early Warning System (FAMNEWS), an android app developed by FAO to guide farmer and extension workers on real time detection and management of the FAW pest, other platforms are also made available to assist farmers. Support with production inputs such as, maize seed, fertilizer, herbicide, backpack Knapsack sprayer equipment and personal protective equipment (PPE), to mitigate the effect of the pest and its consequences on their yields, is also made available.

Participants at the training, drawn from six states namely, Borno, Kaduna, Jigawa, Katsina, Kano and the FCT, will trickle down the knowledge that they have learned by being able to provide extension support to farmers in their communities, effectively monitor and report, and offer support that would reduce the risk of the pest invading farmlands without control.

A similar training held in Ibadan, Oyo state in February this year empowered the trained extension workers in 6 southern and eastern states of Nigeria (namely Abia, Oyo, Ekiti, Ondo, Kwara, Osun states). The training enabled them to provide adequate capacity to scale down the training to different groups and individuals in their various locations, with impactful results.

The next phase of the training activities will target farmers directly in all the 12 states covered by the project.